Sharel Cassity

Last updated
Sharel Cassity
Sharel Cassity.jpg
Background information
Genres Classical music
Occupation(s) Saxophonist
Composer
Educator
Instrument(s) Saxophone
LabelsRelsha Works
Website sharelcassity.com

Sharel Cassity is an American saxophonist, composer, and educator based in Chicago, having lived in New York City from 2000 to 2016. She is a winner of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer, is in the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, has performed internationally in 27 countries, and is faculty at DePaul University, Columbia College Chicago, and Elgin Community College in Illinois teaching Jazz Pedagogy, classical saxophone jazz saxophone, classical flute, and piano. In addition to recording several albums, she has toured with her band internationally and has been featured with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra 2020.

Contents

Education

In 2007, Cassity graduated with a master's degree in music from the Juilliard School under full scholarship. She obtained her bachelor's degree from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music 2002–2005, having transferred from the University of Central Oklahoma (1996-1999).

Career

Sharel Cassity became a member of the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band in 2008, [1] [2] performing with legendary artists from including Roy Hargrove, Jimmy Heath, James Moody, Antonio Hart, Lewis Nash, John Lee, and Cyrus Chestnut Cassity continued working amongst NEA Jazz Masters Jimmy Heath in the Jimmy Heath Big Band and Queens Jazz Orchestra from 2012 to 2020, [3] Nicholas Payton's Big Band (2011-2012) the Roy Hargrove Big Band (2008), Cyrus Chestnut (2014) [4] and was lead alto in the DIVA Jazz Orchestra between 2007 and 2013.

Cassity performed as a soloist with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra in 2020. In 2015, she performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Doha, and 2016 in Shanghai, China, with Jazz at Lincoln Center. 2016 performed with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra at Rose Hall and Botanical Gardens. [5] In 2017 Sharel performed with Herbie Hancock at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to celebrate Jimmy Heath's 90th birthday.

Cassity founded her record label, Relsha Works in 2016. In 2018, she started her educational outreach program, Jazz Up!.

Cassity is on faculty at DePaul University, [6] professor of saxophone at Columbia College Chicago, and professor of piano, flute, and saxophone at Elgin Community College .[7] Cassity played the DC Jazz Festival in 2016 with her electric band, Elektra, featuring Ingrid Jensen & Mark Whitfield. In 2019 she played the Chicago Jazz Festival with her "Fearless" quartet.

Cassity played with Natalie Merchant 2014–2015, appearing on the Today Show (2015 ) and on her album and DVD "Paradise is Here." In 2008, her second album Relentless released on Jazz Legacy Productions, earning 4 stars in DownBeat, and reaching #21 on the JazzWeek, the US Nationwide Jazz Chart. Relentless featured 6 original tracks which include Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, Dwayne Burno on bass, Michael Dease on trombone, Orrin Evans on piano, & E.J. Strickland on drums. [7]

In 2018 she was listed on the SF Jazz website in an article as "10 Rising Women Instrumentalists you should know" [8] and was featured in the Chicago Tribune in 2020. [9]

Albums

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Lou Williams</span> American jazz pianist and composer (1910–1981)

Mary Lou Williams was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records. Williams wrote and arranged for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and she was friend, mentor, and teacher to Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Sanborn</span> American saxophonist

David William Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Heath</span> American jazz saxophonist, composer, and band leader (1926–2020)

James Edward Heath, nicknamed Little Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader. He was the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonny Stitt</span> American jazz saxophonist (1924–1982)

Sonny Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording more than 100 albums. He was nicknamed the "Lone Wolf" by jazz critic Dan Morgenstern because of his tendency to rarely work with the same musicians for long despite his relentless touring and devotion to jazz. Stitt was sometimes viewed as a Charlie Parker mimic, especially earlier in his career, but gradually came to develop his own sound and style, particularly when performing on tenor saxophone and even occasionally baritone saxophone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Rodney</span> American jazz trumpeter

Robert Roland Chudnick, known professionally as Red Rodney, was an American jazz trumpeter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monterey Jazz Festival</span> Annual music festival in California since 1958

The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It debuted on October 3, 1958, championed by Dave Brubeck and co-founded by jazz and popular music critic Ralph J. Gleason and jazz disc jockey Jimmy Lyons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David "Fathead" Newman</span> American jazz and R&B saxophonist (1933–2009)

David "Fathead" Newman was an American jazz and rhythm-and-blues saxophonist, who made numerous recordings as a session musician and leader, but is best known for his work as a sideman on seminal 1950s and early 1960s recordings by Ray Charles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerald Wilson</span> American trumpetist

Gerald Stanley Wilson was an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. Born in Mississippi, he was based in Los Angeles from the early 1940s. He arranged music for Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles, Julie London, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, and Nancy Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberta Gambarini</span> Italian jazz singer

Roberta Gambarini is a jazz singer from Italy.

Jazzmobile, Inc. is based in New York City, and was founded in 1964 by Daphne Arnstein, an arts patron and founder of the Harlem Cultural Council and Dr. William "Billy" Taylor. It is a multifaceted, outreach organization committed to bringing "America's Classical Music"—Jazz—to the largest possible audience by producing concerts, festivals and special events worldwide. The Jazzmobile educational efforts are now being enhanced by the creation of a not-for-profit music publishing company and not-for-profit recording company.

Sara Lazarus is an American jazz singer who lives in France.

Michael Patrick Dease is an American jazz tenor and bass trombonist, composer and producer. He also plays saxophone, trumpet, flugelhorn, bass and piano.

<i>Dizzy and Strings</i> 1955 studio album by Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy and Strings is an album by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, released in 1955 by Norgran Records.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is an American big band and jazz orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis. The Orchestra is part of Jazz at Lincoln Center, a performing arts organization in New York City.

Claire Daly is a baritone saxophonist and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Lee (bassist)</span> American bassist

John Lee is an American bassist, Grammy winning record producer and audio engineer.

James Theodore Powell was an American jazz saxophonist who played alto sax.

Justin Robinson is an American alto saxophonist. He has performed with artists such as the Harper Brothers, Cecil Brooks III, Abbey Lincoln, Diana Ross, Little Jimmy Scott, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, the Dizzy Gillespie All Star Band and was a member of the quintet and big band of trumpeter Roy Hargrove.

The Christian McBride Big Band is a 17-piece big band whose debut album The Good Feeling received the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lakecia Benjamin</span> Musical artist

Lakecia Benjamin is an American jazz, funk, and R&B saxophonist.

References

  1. Rost, Lizzy (13 December 2020). "A tribute to bebop". Royal Purple newspaper.
  2. "Sharel Cassity and the Tony Lujan Septet: A Tribute to Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Pettiford 2nd Set". Smithsonian Institution.
  3. Chinen, Nate (30 October 2013). "A Bandleader in His Element". The New York Times.
  4. "Sharel Cassity Is 'Fearless' Amid Recovery". DownBeat. 30 September 2020.
  5. "Saxophonist Sharel Cassity Quintet". Jazz Showcase. 20 August 2020.
  6. "Sharel Cassity". DePaul University.
  7. "Sharel Cassity: Relentless". Financial Times.
  8. "10 Rising Women Instrumentalists". Sfjazz.org.
  9. Reich, Howard (8 December 2020). "Best jazz recordings of 2020: Maria Schneider, Matthew Shipp and Sharel Cassity". Chicago Tribune.
  10. "Sharel Cassity: Just for You album review". All About Jazz. 27 July 2008.
  11. "Jazz news: Sharel Cassity - Relentless (Jazz Legacy Productions)". All About Jazz News. 7 March 2010.
  12. "Sharel Cassity & Elektra Evolve". DownBeat Reviews.
  13. West, Michael J. "CD Review - Sharel Cassity & Elektra: Evolve (Relsha)". JazzTimes.
  14. "Sharel Cassity: Fearless album review". All About Jazz. 19 August 2020.
  15. "CD Review: Sharel Cassity "Fearless"". Chicago Jazz Magazine. 6 October 2020.
  16. Reich, Howard (4 August 2020). "Chicago saxophonist Sharel Cassity marks comeback from tough illness". Chicago Tribune.