Arthur’s bio

Welcome to my web page

By day, Arthur Topilow, MD is the Director of Hematology/Medical Oncology at the Jersey Shore University Medical Center (JSUMC) in Neptune, New Jersey, and is an ardent pianist at night. He began studying the piano with Nina Dobkin in his hometown of Bayonne, New Jersey, and was soon playing professionally in his high school years. Arthur studied jazz piano with Lennie Tristano and Morris Nanton. During his college and medical school years he honed his skills while playing in Catskill Mountain hotel bands. In his internship year, he performed the “Rhapsody in Blue” with the Manhattan Doctors’ Orchestra. His chamber music performances have included works by Brahms, Bach, Franck, Mendelsohn, and Claude Bolling. In 1985, he performed the Schumann piano concerto with the Garden State Orchestra. He participated in the Count Basie centennial jazz concerts in Red Bank in 2004 and in the Jazz in the Park series in Red Bank in 2004 and 2005. For the last ten years, his own jazz group continues to play at the Ruth Hyman Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Deal, New Jersey, featuring such notables as Ken Peplowski, Ed Polcer, Randy Sanke, and James Chirillo.

Arthur has participated in the 92nd Street Y’s jazz piano Master Class in 1998, 1999 and again in 2001 as part of the “Jazz in July” series with Dick Hyman and Derek Smith. In July of 2003, he performed at the 92nd Street Y in their regular “Jazz In July” concert series. In 2005 and again in 2006, he appeared with Dick Hyman in duo piano concerts at the Deal, New Jersey JCC.

Arthur has appeared on many occasions with his clarinetist/conductor brother, Carl, at events in New Jersey, Ohio, and Colorado, including several times with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra (CPO) under the baton of brother Carl Topilow. His first CD, "Come In From The Cold," was recorded with his brother in December 2001 in Cleveland. A second CD, “A View From The Top,” was recorded with Carl and a group of musicians from the CPO. Arthur and Carl’s third CD, recorded in 2006, is called “Music Of America.” In 2004, the brothers performed in Como and Florence, Italy while on a concert tour. In 2007 the brothers performed in L’Aquilea and Castle Franco in the Rome area. In March 2008 Arthur played for Bernadette Peters in a concert in Cleveland and also for Steve Lippia, who sang the Sinatra Songbook. Arthur played for Joe Piscopo in June 2008 who also sang the Sinatra Songbook. In 2009 Art has performed a number of concerts at the JCC. In October he performed with Dick Hyman and the Deal, New Jersey JCC.  In November he did a concert in Sandusky, Ohio with brother Carl Topilow.   In December he played for the Sinatra bash at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey and on New Year’s Eve he played with the Cleveland Pops. On March 6th, 2010, he received the Axelrod Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award from the Axelrod Performing Arts Center, in Deal, New Jersey.  Arthur is presently working on a fourth CD that will feature his piano playing. He is often seen in local Jersey Shore clubs and events with bassist Gary Mazzaroppi and guitarist Vinnie Correo.

Dr. Topilow is a Fellow of the American College Of Physicians. A Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, he is a member of the American Society of Hematology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. In private practice with Atlantic Hematology Oncology, he also directs a clinical research section at JSUMC and a summer research program for college students. He has written and co-authored more than fifty medical articles and abstracts. In addition to racing his sailboat and cruising in Europe and the East Coast of North America, he has published numerous articles on sailing, radar navigation, frog hunting, and jungle exploration.