Ross Mintzer

Ross Philip Mintzer (born May 26, 1987)[1] is an American musician and performer.[2] He has led the Ross Mintzer Band since its formation in 2012. Mintzer was featured on National Public Radio show From the Top.[3][4] In 2011, he started a girls' choir in Karachi, Pakistan and has been recognized by the National Association for Music Education.[5]

Ross Mintzer
Mintzer in 2013
Background information
Born (1987-05-26) May 26, 1987
New York, New York
GenresWorld, pop, edm, rock, jazz
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, musician
InstrumentsVocals, guitar, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, flute
Years active2005–present
Websiterossmintzer.com

Early life

Mintzer was born in 1987 in New York City.[1] Mintzer is the son of Richard and Cheryl Mintzer, he has a sister Emmaly.[6] His grandfather Stanley Kushner was an electrical contractor.[6] The paternal side of Mintzer's family is Jewish and immigrated from Kaunus, Lithuania to Westchester County, New York in 1914.[7] He began learning the saxophone at age 8, after being influenced by his uncle, Bob Mintzer, a Grammy Award-winning jazz saxophone player.[8] He also plays tenor saxophone, flute, and guitar, in addition to singing and composing.[9] Mintzer was sexually molested when he was six by a thirteen year old male neighbor.[10]

Mintzer played in the Jazz Band at Mamaroneck High School and in the band Dr. Meeker in New York before formally studying music during high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan.[8][11] Mintzer continued his studies during college at the Manhattan School of Music.[8][12] In high school, he played tenor sax in jazz combo and jazz band. He has studied privately with New York saxophonist, Marc Mommaas.[13]

In 2005, Mintzer was one of 29 high school students selected for the Gibson/Baldwin Jazz Ensembles for the 47th Annual Grammy Music Awards in Los Angeles.[4] Mintzer performed at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood with award-winning Jazz saxophonist Benny Golson.[14][15] That same year, he was a featured performer on the National Public Radio program "From the Top" with bassist Michael Thurber.[16] They performed J.S. Bach's Two-Part Inventions No.1 and No. 2.[17] He was also a co-winner in Downbeat Magazine's 28th Annual Student Awards in the Blues/Pop/Rock Soloist and Jazz Instrumental Soloist categories.[13] Jazziz magazine invited him to perform on its compilation album "Jazziz on Disc," a limited-edition collector's CD issued with the October 2005 edition.[18]

Career

2005–2012: Remington and Music in Pakistan

Mintzer was the guitarist and composer for Remington, a duo with bassist Michael Thurber, which became a trio with the addition of drummer Greg Evans.[12][19] The Band was named after their mentor David Remington.[20] In 2009, Mintzer traveled to teach music. He began touring around the country with fellow Interlochen alumnus Michael Thurber to hold music clinics for young musicians.[21]

Beginning in February 2011, Mintzer taught in the Performing Arts Department of the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. From October 2011 to February 2012, he taught English and music in Karachi, Pakistan to children at The Garage School.[22] He also organized music events for the students and directed a girls' choir.[23] In June 2012, Mintzer rode his bicycle across the United States to honor soldiers who died in Afghanistan and Iraq and to protest US drone strikes in Pakistan.[24][25]

2012–present: Ross Mintzer

In 2012, he formed The Ross Mintzer Band. According to the band website, they have released two singles and one music video, and have performed in Chicago, St. Louis, Boulder, Madison, Los Angeles, and New York City.[26][27][28] In February 2014, Mintzer was interviewed and played his song "Open Happiness" on NHK's program "World Wave Morning."[29] He was conferred an "Honorary Life Membership" to the Tri-M Music Honor Society, a program of the National Association for Music Education, "For inspiring young musicians to achieve and for serving music education." on May 5, 2014.[30] Mintzer states that he uses Facebook to reach fans; his band's Facebook page has over one million followers. On July 7, 2015, Mintzer performed, "The Star-Spangled Banner" in Colorado Springs, CO at Security Service Field before a Sky Sox baseball game.[31]

Mintzer released his song, Refugee, as a single in 2015.[32][33] On April 7, 2016, Mintzer released Stronger, a song that utilizes multiple synthesizers with various timbres and qualities.[34] Mintzer's songs were streamed over 20 million times in 2016.[35] According to social media analytics site, Twitter Counter, as of January 16, 2017, Mintzer is ranked #1,861 for the number of followers among all Twitter users.[36][37] In 2016 and 2017, Mintzer served as a part-time instructor for the WeBop program at Jazz at Lincoln Center.[38]

Mintzer released "Destiny" featuring singer Xav A. on January 7, 2018.[39] The video for "Destiny" has over 3 million views on his YouTube Artist Channel and Facebook Page, as of April 27, 2020.[40] On December 12th, 2019 Mintzer became an Amazon Influencer.[41][42] On September 20, 2018 Mintzer released his first solo EP, "Imagine".[43][44] Mintzer released his song "The Owl" on February 13, 2019 and stated "the song is about how we are capable of so much more than we think we are."[45] On May 18, 2019 Mintzer performed a show with guest speaker and Afghan social activist Fereshteh Forough at the Regency in Brooklyn, New York.[46][47] He performed a show at the Mamaroneck High School in New York on September 20, 2019.[46][48]

Performing Saxophone at the Dubai Bitcoin Conference at the Dubai International Financial Center in the United Arab Emirates(December 12, 2014)

Discography

Songs
  • Guayaquil (2005)
  • Two Step for a Rainy Day (2005)
  • Refugee (2015)
  • Stronger (2016)
  • Destiny (ft. Xav A.) (2018)
  • See You Again (2019)
  • Remember (2019)
  • Feels The Same (2019)
  • Days (2019)
  • The Owl (2019)
  • Love Me The Way I Am (2020)

EPs with Remington
  • Songs For Our Friends (2007)[49]
  • Thank You Mr. Remington (2008)[50]
  • Warm Winter (2008)[51]
  • Human Music" (2009)

Songs with Ross Mintzer Band

References
  1. Musicbrainz, "Ross Mintzer", MusicBrainz, October 30, 2014.
  2. AllMusic.com, "Ross Mintzer", AllMusic.com, 2012. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
  3. NPR Media Player, "From The Top Listen", National Public Radio, November 1, 2006. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  4. BusinessWire, "Students from Across the Nation Chosen by The GRAMMY Foundation to Participate in Prestigious Gibson/Baldwin GRAMMY Jazz Ensembles Program", The Grammy Foundation press release. January 6, 2005.
  5. The Second Floor, "T2F & Ross Mintzer Present the Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Girls Choir" Saturday, February 11, 2012.
  6. "Kushner, Stanley" New York Times. December 28, 2005.
  7. French, Alvah. "History of Westchester County New York" Lewis Historical Publishing Company, INC. 1925, p. 586
  8. Schweitzer, Callie. "Home-Grown Talent Chosen for Grammy Band." Larchmont Gazette.
  9. Element Prime Magazine. "Change Makers: Ross Mintzer." March 2012.
  10. Documentary. "Love Me The Way I Am | Studio Sessions #2." Official Facebook Page. February 6, 2020.
  11. "Mintzer Plays in Dr. Meeker" Larchmont Gazette. May 24, 2007.
  12. "The Giving Tree with Remington." Archived 2013-08-07 at Archive.today Flavor Pill archives
  13. Enright, Ed. "Broad Sounds." Downbeat Magazine. June 2005. pg. 114
  14. BTC Geek. "Ross Mintzer Band (Bitcoin Band) to Perform Live in New York City." BTC Geek. March 29, 2015.
  15. John Sciulli, "Gibson Baldwin Grammy Jazz Ensemble Band during GRAMMY Jazz Ensembles with Jon Secada", Getty Images. February 5, 2005.
  16. "Show 125: Winona Lake, Indiana." Archived 2013-08-06 at the Wayback Machine June 18, 2005
  17. "Best Friends Make the Best Music." "From the Top." NPR. November 1, 2006
  18. University of Wisconsin-Madison "Jazziz on disc. October 2005 Ed. 5" University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries. October, 2005
  19. Bialczak, Mark. "Evans Brings Remington North for Homecoming." Music Notebook. Syracuse.com. February 7, 2008.
  20. "Alumni From Touring Band and Education Program." Archived 2011-05-28 at the Wayback Machine From The Top October 28, 2009
  21. "Band Offers Summer Program to Kids in Michigan." From the Top
  22. The Garage School. "Amazing Grace" October 27th, 2011
  23. Mustafa, Shabina. "Farewell to our American friend!" Archived 2014-12-31 at the Wayback Machine The Garage School. February 20, 2012
  24. Mueller, Evan. "Stories from Ross Mintzer's Cross-Country Music Tour" June 30, 2013
  25. Mintzer, Ross. "US Cross-Country Bike Trip" YouTube Artist Channel. April 16, 2020
  26. "The Ross Mintzer Band." Accessed August 5, 2013
  27. Michiko Studios. "Ross Mintzer Band" Hot House pg. 19. April, 2015
  28. The Stage. "YouTube sensation Ross Mintzer w Kevin Ryan." Pelham Patch June 8, 2013 at 10:45 am
  29. "World Wave Morning." NHK World. Aired February 22, 2014
  30. "Mintzer, Ross TRI-M “Honorary Life Membership” " May 5, 2014.
  31. "Ross Mintzer performing the national anthem - "The Star-Spangled Banner" Facebook. July 9, 2015.
  32. Joe (January 7, 2016). "Ross Mintzer - Refugee". Daily Dose of Bass. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
  33. The Hype Magazine (January 21, 2016). "Ross Mintzer - Refugee (@RossMintzer)". The Hype Magazine. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  34. Alexander Poe (May 25, 2016). "How to Recognize Different Types of Synthesis". Active Listening. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
  35. Ross Mintzer Official SoundCloud. SoundCloud. January 23, 2017.
  36. Ross Mintzer Twitter Stats. Twitter Counter. January 16, 2017.
  37. Twitter Inc. (January 16, 2017). "Verified Twitter Profile". Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  38. "Story Section" Facebook Inc. January 18, 2017.
  39. "Destiny (ft. Xav A.) [Official Audio]" Facebook Inc. January 7, 2019.
  40. "Destiny (ft. Xav A.) [Official Audio" YouTube Inc. January 7, 2019.
  41. "Amazon Influencer" YouTube Inc. December 12, 2019.
  42. "Official Store" Amazon Inc. December 12, 2019.
  43. Cameos on Google "How much of your personal experience did you bring to Imagine?" Google Inc. October 28, 2019.
  44. Lowrey-Rasmussen, Logan "Ross Mintzer & Adessi Debut Strange-tastic Music Video for “Breathe” Relentless Beats. July 11, 2016.
  45. Cameos on Google "What inspired you to write The Owl?" Google Inc. November 15, 2019.
  46. Cameos on Google "What was your personal highlight of 2019?" Google Inc. October 28, 2019.
  47. "New Trails | Live At The Regency" Documentary. July 9, 2019.
  48. Live at The Mamaroneck High School | September 20 2019 Facebook Inc. September 25, 2019.
  49. O'Brien Smith, Ben. “Review: Remington – NYC Indie/Dance Rock band doing all the right things” September 28, 2008.
  50. Bialczak, Mark. "Trio With Heart and Soul" Syracuse(Review Section). March, 2007.
  51. Brickman, Jared. “New Remington EP: The Warm Winter” April 13, 2008.
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