Roxy Coss

Roxy Coss is a saxophonist and composer who is based in New York. She also is a winner of the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award, and has attracted attention from major music magazines and organizations. In addition to recording a number of albums, she has performed internationally.

Roxy Coss
OriginSeattle, USA
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsSaxophone
Associated actsRoxy Coss Quartet, The Diva Jazz Orchestra

Background

Originally from Seattle,[1] Coss is one of few female band leaders in the jazz field.[2] Her entry into music was at a young age: by the age of six or seven, she was taking piano lessons and composing music.[3] She took up saxophone at age 9 in her elementary school's band, and at age 11 started listening to jazz and played in the jazz band at school. Also at that time she entered into the city-wide "Reflections" composition contest and came in third.

In 2015, she was serving as Faculty at the New York Summer Music Festival.[4] 2016 marked her third year in a row that DownBeat 'Critics' Polls had listed her on the "Rising Star" list as a Soprano Saxophonist.[5]

Career

Roxy Coss started WIJO (Women in Jazz organization) in 2017.[6]

Coss is on faculty at the Juilliard School teaching Jazz Ensembles.[7]

Coss played the Newport Jazz Festival in 2018- Roxy Coss w/Mike King Duo[8] and in 2016 with her quintet.[9]

Coss played with Clark Terry's Titans at a venue in 2005.[10]

In November 2015, she was playing in the Jeremy Pelt Quintet for a weekend engagement at the Smoke at 2751 Broadway, at 106th Street.[11] In 2016, her album Restless Idealism was released. The album which featured 10 original tracks featured Alex Wintz on guitar, Chris Pattishall on piano, Dezron Douglas on bass, and Willie Jones III on drums.[12]

In October, 2016 at the Lake George Jazz Festival, she was the featured soloist on the song "Nuthin'" which was performed by the DIVA Jazz Orchestra.[13] Also that year she won the 2016 ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award.[14] Her 2016 album , Restless Idealism got to #7 on Jazzweek, the US Nationwide Jazz Chart.

Along with The James Mustafa Jazz Orchestra, she was booked to appear at the Melbourne Big Band Festival in Victoria, Australia on February 12, 2017.[15]

On March 31, 2017, her album Chasing The Unicorn which was released on Posi-Tone Records went on sale.[16] It featured the tracks, "Chasing the Unicorn", "A Shade of Jade", "You're There", "Free to Be", "Oh! Darling", "Never Enough", "Virgo", "Unwavering Optimism", "Benny's Tune", "Endless Cycle", and "Crazy". In addition to Coss on tenor and soprano saxophones and clarinet, it featured Alex Wintz on guitar, Glenn Zaleski on piano, Rick Rosato on bass, and Jimmy Macbride on drums.[17]

Discography
Albums
Title Release info Year Notes
Roxy Coss Self released 2010
Restless Idealism Origin 2016
Chasing the Unicorn Posi-Tone 2017 [18]
The Future is Female Posi-Tone 2018 [19]
Roxy Coss Quintet Outside In Music 2019 [20]

Bio

Musician, Composer, Bandleader, Recording Artist, Educator and Activist Roxy Coss has become one of the most unique and innovative Saxophonists on the scene. Winner of a 2016 ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award, the Downbeat Critics’ Poll listed her as a "Rising Star" on Soprano Saxophone the past five years in a row, and a Downbeat Magazine review called her "An exceptional young talent”. Originally from Seattle, Roxy has been a fixture on the New York scene for over ten years. She has headlined extensively around the world, including major festivals and venues like the Newport Jazz Festival, Melbourne Big Band Festival, Earshot Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Summerfest, Ballard Jazz Festival, The Jazz Standard, and Jazz Showcase, among others. Her band, the Roxy Coss Quintet, has held residencies at New York City clubs including SMOKE Jazz Club and Club Bonafide, appears frequently around NYC, and tours nationally. Roxy was also a featured guest musician on the television show Harry in 2017. She is the Founder of Women In Jazz Organization (WIJO), and serves on the Board of Directors of Jazz Education Network (JEN). Roxy is also on Jazz Faculty at The Juilliard School, The New School, and the Borough of Manhattan Community College (a CUNY School).


In March 2018, Coss released her fourth album as a leader, The Future Is Female (Posi-Tone), follow-up to Chasing the Unicorn (2017), also on Posi-Tone. The Future Is Female received a 4.5-Star Review from both Downbeat and All About Jazz, and Chasing the Unicorn made the “Best of 2017” lists in Downbeat, Somethin’ Else Reviews, and Ken Franckling’s Jazz Notes. Past albums also include Restless Idealism on Origin Records (2016), and Roxy Coss (2010).


Coss has performed as a side musician with Jazz greats including Clark Terry, Louis Hayes, Rufus Reid, Billy Kaye and Claudio Roditi. She was a member of trumpeter Jeremy Pelt’s group from 2012 through 2014, and toured with the MACKTET, co-led by Pelt and drummer Willie Jones III. She has been a member of The Diva Jazz Orchestra since 2010, and was a member of the Off-Broadway hit, Maurice Hines is Tappin’ Thru Life . Past performance experience also includes Wynton Marsalis, Buster Williams, Joshua Redman, Joe Lovano, Mulgrew Miller, Harry Allen, Steve Wilson, Mark Gross, Gary Smulyan, Harold Mabern, Jerry Vivino, Eric Marienthal, and Ken Peplowski, among others.


Roxy first started playing piano at the age of five, where she learned the basics of music theory, composition, and ear training through the Robert Pace method. She picked up the saxophone at age nine, and fell in love with Jazz by eleven, playing in her middle school jazz band under the tutelage of Robert Knatt. Roxy graduated in 2004 from Garfield High School, where she toured and performed internationally with the world-renowned GHS Jazz Ensemble, led by Clarence Acox. Roxy went on to attend William Paterson University, where she graduated on a full scholarship Magna Cum Laude in 2008, with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies/Performance. In 2011, she was chosen to participate in both the prestigious Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Residency Workshop at the Kennedy Center, and the acclaimed Steans Institute Jazz Program at the Ravinia Festival, where she worked closely with Rufus Reid, Curtis Fuller, Nathan Davis, George Cables, and David Baker. Roxy has also studied Saxophone privately with Rich Perry, Gary Smulyan, Donny McCaslin, and Mark Taylor, Composition with Rich DeRosa, Improvisation with Harold Mabern, Armen Donelian, and Bill Mobley, and Flute/Composition with Anne Drummond.


As a composer, Roxy has collaborated with her mother, Seattle visual artist Mary Coss, to create the soundtrack entitled Eternal, for an exhibition at METHOD Gallery (Traces, 2015). She was also commissioned by the Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company to write the score for Breaking, a one-man dance piece (2009), as well as Tribe, a full-length dance show choreographed on commission by the Holocaust Museum of New York City (2010).


As an educator, Roxy has 18 years of experience with students of all ages. In addition to private instruction, she has led Masterclasses around the country, including Berklee College of Music, Western Michigan University, Arizona State University, Purdue University, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Ithaca College, and Seattle’s JazzEd. Roxy has served as an adjudicator for both the Northern Arizona University and Bellevue High School Jazz Festivals, and for the 2018 Vandoren Emerging Artist Competition. She regularly performs with teaching programs such as Jazz For Young People at JALC, Let Freedom Swing! at JALC, Jazz and Business Leadership Workshops at JALC, JazzReach led by Hans Shuman, and Generation Vandoren. She has also held faculty positions including Adjunct Woodwind Teacher at Ramapo High School in NJ, Director of Jazz Ensemble at Beacon High School in NYC, William Paterson University Summer Jazz Workshop, and New York Summer Music Festival. Roxy has appeared as a guest teacher at Queens College, “JazzGirls Day” at JALC, Seattle JazzEd’s “Girls Jazz Sleepover”, and at The Jazz Academy of Music. She has done guest lecture spots at universities such as Berklee College of Music, The New School (Jazz School), University of North Texas (Jazz Dept), Georgetown University, and University of Manitoba (Jazz Dept).[21]

WIJO

Roxy is the Founder of Women In Jazz Organization, a collective of over 300 professional jazz musicians who identify as women or non-binary. http://wearewijo.org/ WIJO intends to help level the playing field, so that women and non-binary people have equal opportunity to participate in and contribute to the jazz community, leading to an improved and more rich, diverse, and successful art form. The organization is committed to honoring Black Americans as the creators of jazz. WIJO is largely a New York-based organization, with connections to other individuals and groups nationally and internationally. The organization aims to empower the individuals within, as well as come together to empower the larger community of jazz musicians who identify as women or non-binary as a whole. Members of the organization work to address inequalities in jazz culture to change the landscape of the current jazz scene. The organization also works to improve the perceptions and treatment of women and non-binary people in jazz from outside the jazz community.[22][23]

References
  1. the Stranger - Roxy Coss, Chasing the Unicorn CD Release Show
  2. Australian Jazz.net, February 6, 2017 - Roxy Coss: “The lack of female representation in Jazz is hurting us all” by Nikos Fotakis
  3. All About Jazz - “Roxy Coss: Standing Out” by Paul Rauch
  4. The Register Citizen, July 15, 2015 - Waterbury: Theater club to host concert by Roxy Coss Quintet
  5. The Melbourne Big Band Festival - Roxy Coss (NY) + The James Mustafa Jazz Orchestra
  6. "about". wearewijo.org. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  7. "Coss, Roxy at The Juilliard School". www.juilliard.edu. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  8. "Roxy Coss @ Newport Jazz Festival". Bandsintown. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  9. Don't Cross The Coss Live at Newport, retrieved November 16, 2019
  10. Clark: The Autobiography of Clark Terry, by Clark Terry - Page 249 Second Chance
  11. New York Times, NOV. 8, 2012 - Jazz Listings for Nov. 9-15
  12. JazzTimes, 08/14/2016 - Roxy Coss: Restless Idealism By Michael J. West
  13. Downbeat, Oct 17, 2016  - Lake George Jazz Fest Celebrates Women of Jazz in Idyllic Locale By Bill Milkowski
  14. All About Jazz - Roxy Coss
  15. The Melbourne Big Band Festival - Roxy Coss (NY) + The James Mustafa Jazz Orchestra
  16. Somethingelsereviews.com, March 25, 2017 - Roxy Coss – Chasing The Unicorn by S. Victor Aaron
  17. All About Jazz, September 6, 2017 - Roxy Coss: Chasing the Unicorn by Paul Rauch
  18. AllMusic - Roxy Coss, Discography
  19. AllMusic - Roxy Coss, Discography
  20. "Quintet (CD)". Roxy Coss. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  21. "About". Roxy Coss. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  22. "About". Roxy Coss. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  23. "about". wearewijo.org. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
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