Carnegie Hall

Thomas Cabaniss (b. 1962) is a composer and educator born in Charleston, South Carolina. Residing in New York City, Cabaniss teaches at The Juilliard School and leads arts education programs throughout the city. His music ranges from chamber music to operas and film scores. He is a creative adviser for Carnegie Hall’s Link Up program, and helped launch Carnegie Hall’s Lullaby Project, which helps pregnant women, new mothers, and their families write songs for their children. Cabaniss uses his music to encourage collaboration and help institutions support partnerships between artists and communities.

Concert Repertoire: “Come to Play”

John Clayton (b. 1952) is a Grammy-winning bassist, composer, arranger, and producer. He has written and/or recorded with artists such as Milt Jackson, Diana Krall, Paul McCartney, Regina Carter, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gladys Knight, Queen Latifah, McCoy Tyner, Yo-Yo Ma, and Charles Aznavour, to name a few. Clayton was principal bassist in the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra between 1980 and 1984. In 1986, he co-founded the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and rekindled the Clayton Brothers Quintet. In addition to his individual clinics and workshops, Clayton directs the educational components of Centrum’s Jazz Port Townsend and the Vail Jazz Workshop. His arrangement of “The Star-Spangled Banner” was sung by Whitney Houston in her 1990 performance at the Super Bowl; the recording went platinum. Clayton feels, “I’ve been guided by a village of musicians who helped me understand the humility that goes along with playing music at the highest level you can. Ray Brown used to tell me to ‘learn how to play the bass!!’ Just take care of the music and it will take care of you.”

Duke Ellington (1899–1974) is considered one of the most important figures in jazz history. Born in Washington, DC, he began studying classical piano when he was around eight years old. As a teenager, Ellington became interested in ragtime and jazz and began playing in dance bands at clubs and parties. The young Edward—Ellington’s real first name—had an elegant sense of style, which earned him the nickname “Duke” from his friends. He moved to New York City as a young man and began his career as a bandleader and composer. Ellington was hired to lead the house band at the Cotton Club, a famous jazz club in Harlem. He went on to form the Duke Ellington Orchestra—which became known all over the country thanks to radio broadcasts and popular recordings—and toured the world for more than 50 years. Over the course of his long career, Ellington collaborated with many other jazz greats, including Billy Strayhorn and Ella Fitzgerald, and wrote nearly 2,000 compositions.

Concert Repertoire: “Duke’s Place” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)”

George Gershwin (1898–1937) is one of the most recognized American composers of the 20th century. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he exhibited his musical talent at a young age, first learning melodies on a neighbor’s player piano and then beginning his studies on an upright piano that his parents purchased for his older brother, Ira, who was an acclaimed lyricist. Gershwin began his professional music career in Tin Pan Alley as a “song plugger,” playing the piano to help publishing houses advertise and sell new music, and later playing as a rehearsal pianist for musical theater. Gershwin and his brother formed a legendary partnership, creating many notable works that include the opera Porgy and Bess. Gershwin’s compositions include both popular and classical styles, as well as works for solo piano, orchestra, musical theater, opera, and film.

Concert Repertoire: “I Got Rhythm”

Wynton Marsalis (b. 1961) is a world-renowned trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and a leading advocate of American culture. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, he is the son of jazz pianist and music educator Ellis Marsalis Jr. Wynton started practicing trumpet at age six and grew up playing in an unusually diverse group of musical ensembles that included everything from New Orleans traditional marching bands to funk bands, concert bands, orchestras, and small jazz ensembles. Over the past four decades, Marsalis has rekindled an animated global interest in jazz through performances, educational activities, books, curricula, and relentless advocacy on public platforms. He has performed over 4,800 concerts in more than 60 countries around the globe. Marsalis performs and composes across the entire spectrum of jazz and has written jazz-influenced chamber music and symphonic works for revered classical ensembles across the US and abroad. He has written more than 600 works, including songs and movements, dance scores, suites, symphonies, chamber works, and more.

Concert Repertoire: “Midwestern Moods” from Swing Symphony

Florence Price (1887–1953) was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. A gifted musician who began studying piano at age four, Price was exposed to the music of Bach and Mendelssohn as a child, and her parents frequently hosted leading figures of the Black intelligentsia, including W. E. B. Du Bois and Frederick Douglass. By age 14, Price had enrolled at New England Conservatory, where she earned degrees in both piano and organ performance. Price relocated to Chicago in 1926 and started to gain national and international recognition for her music. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s premiere of her Symphony in E Minor was the first performance by a major US orchestra of a symphony composed by a Black woman. Price composed more than 300 works, and her musical language synthesizes European traditions with elements of Black spirituals and other folk traditions.

Concert Repertoire: “Juba” from Symphony No. 1

Reginald Thomas (b. 1965) is a jazz pianist, organist, educator, and composer. Thomas can be seen fronting his own groups (the Mardra/Reggie Thomas Ensemble and a trio for organ, guitar, and drums) on piano and Hammond organ and as a sideman with great artists including Hamiet Bluiett, Ann Hampton Callaway, and the Carl Allen / Rodney Whitaker Ensemble. He often performs with the legendary Count Basie Orchestra and as accompanist for the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and in Los Angeles. He appears as a guest artist at collegiate jazz festivals around the country and has performed internationally. Thomas currently leads the Northern Illinois University School of Music’s jazz studies program. He has also served on several summer jazz faculties across the US and abroad. He remains an active clinician and adjudicator, and has directed all-state jazz bands, combos, and jazz choirs around the US.

Concert Repertoire: “Come to Play”

Chris Washburne (b. 1963) is a trombonist, composer, author, and professor. He has performed on more than 150 recordings, winning two Grammy Awards and receiving seven Grammy nominations. He is the leader of the highly acclaimed Latin jazz groups SYOTOS and Rags and Roots Jazz Band. He is a professor at Columbia University, chair of the Music Department, and the founder of Columbia’s Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance Program. Washburne has published numerous articles on jazz, Latin jazz, and salsa. His books include Bad Music: The Music We Love to Hate (Routledge, 2004), Sounding Salsa: Performing Latin Music in New York City (Temple University Press, 2008), and Latin Jazz: The Other Jazz (Oxford University Press, 2020). He holds a PhD from Columbia University and received an honorary doctorate from St. Edward’s University.

Concert Repertoire: “Come to Play”