This biographical article is written like a résumé .(January 2024) |
Sharel Cassity | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Genres | Classical music |
Occupation(s) | Saxophonist Composer Educator |
Instrument | Saxophone |
Labels | Relsha Works |
Website | sharelcassity |
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.
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).
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]
Eli "Lucky" Thompson was an American jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist whose playing combined elements of swing and bebop. Although John Coltrane usually receives the most credit for bringing the soprano saxophone out of obsolescence in the early 1960s, Thompson embraced the instrument earlier than Coltrane.
David William Sanborn was an American alto saxophonist. Sanborn worked in many musical genres; his solo recordings typically blended jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He began playing the saxophone at the age of 11 and released his first solo album, Taking Off, in 1975. He was active as a session musician, and played on numerous albums by artists including Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Sting, the Eagles, Rickie Lee Jones, James Brown, George Benson, Carly Simon, Elton John, Bryan Ferry and the Rolling Stones. He released more than 20 albums and won six Grammy awards.
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.
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 the craft. 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.
Robert Roland Chudnick, known professionally as Red Rodney, was an American jazz trumpeter.
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.
Russell Keith Procope was an American clarinetist and alto saxophonist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra.
Roberta Gambarini is an italian-american jazz singer
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.
Danish jazz dates back to 1923 when Valdemar Eiberg formed a jazz orchestra and recorded what are thought to be the first Danish jazz records in August 1924. However, jazz in Denmark is typically first dated to 1925, when bandleader Sam Wooding toured in Copenhagen with an orchestra. This was the first time most Danes had heard jazz music. Some prominent early Danish jazz musicians include Erik Tuxen who formed a jazz band and was later named conductor of the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Bernhard Christensen, an art music composer who incorporated jazz elements into his pieces, and Sven Møller Kristensen, who was the lyricist for many of Bernhard Christensen's pieces and who wrote a book on jazz theory in Danish.
Charles Davis was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Davis played alto, tenor and baritone saxophone, and performed extensively with Archie Shepp and Sun Ra.
Michael Patrick Dease is an American jazz tenor and bass trombonist, composer and producer. He also plays saxophone, trumpet, flugelhorn, bass and piano.
Dizzy and Strings is an album by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, released in 1955 by Norgran Records.
John Lee is an American bassist, Grammy winning record producer and audio engineer.
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.
Melissa Aldana is a Chilean tenor saxophone player, who performs both as a soloist and with her band Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio.
Betty Smith was an English jazz saxophonist and singer. She began playing the saxophone at the age of nine and left school six years later to perform with the travelling all-female septet Archie's Juveniles. She performed in the Middle East in 1947 and flew to Germany the following year. Smith and her husband Jack Peberdy joined Freddy Randall's band in 1950 before leaving seven years later to form their own quintet. Her time with Randall saw her travel the United States with some success in the country's hit parade. Her newly formed quintet found regular work and Smith later performed with the Ted Heath Orchestra and alongside Kenny Baker. Her career ended in 1985 and did not recover sufficiently to resume performing.
Lakecia Benjamin is an American jazz, funk, and R&B saxophonist.