Performers include Seattle's finest professional
jazz artists comprising an ethnically diverse
group of young and veteran performers. Trumpeter
Jay Thomas has been named Earshot's
Best Instrumentalist and has recorded with Cedar
Walton, Herb Ellis, and others. Saxophonist Bill Ramsay is a
touring veteran of the Count Basie Orchestra.
Phil Sparks is the most in-demand bassist in
Seattle, named Earshot's Musician of the Year in 1996. Trumpeter Thomas Marriott has burst onto the national scene with acclaimed CD recording that have consistetly topped the radio airplay charts.
The list of local jazz luminaries who regularly perform with the SRJO continues to expand.
Visit our Mentors Page to see tributes to some of our past members who helped create the SRJO, such as Don Lanphere, Floyd Standifer and Hadley Caliman.
Saxophones/Reeds
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Michael Brockman, co-director and lead alto
saxophonist, has been a faculty member of the UW School of Music since 1987, instructing saxophone performance and jazz composition and arranging. He studied saxophone and composition at the New England Conservatory, the Berklee College of Music and the Musikhochschule at the University of Cologne. He has recorded with groups in Washington D.C. and Boston, and in Seattle with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and the Clarence Acox Sextet. "An Evening of Duke Ellington at the UW," produced and directed by Brockman, was voted the 1992 Earshot Jazz Concert of the Year. Brockman was featured on the cover of the nationally published Saxophone Journal (Sept. 1999), which included a lengthy feature article about him. More info at:
michaelbrockman.com
uw school of music/faculty
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Bill Ramsay
(baritone saxophone) is among Seattle's busiest
musicians, leading his own bands and recording with groups up and down
the West Coast. He spent two years as a member of the Count Basie Orchestra,
and is a veteran of many of the nation's outstanding big bands, including the bands of
Thad Jones, Grover Mitchell, Cab Calloway, Mel Lewis, Gene Harris, and
Quincy Jones, and the Benny Goodman Octet. He was inducted to the
Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997.
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Mark Taylor
(alto sax) is a graduate of the UW
School of Music, and the Manhattan
School of Music. He is well-known to
Seattle audiences through the
Davis/Taylor Project, and as a key
member of that project he is the
recipient of an Earshot Golden Ear Award
for Best Emerging Group of 1997.
Recently returned from NYC. Mark can be
heard locally with his own groups, and
with the Jim Knapp Orchestra, New
Stories, the Steve Korn Group, and Matt
Jorgensen+451.
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Hadley Caliman
(tenor saxophone) was an early
disciple of Dexter Gordon, and began recording in
1949. He has appeared in concert and on recordings
with Roy Porter, Eric Dolphy, Della Reese, Freddie Hubbard,
Jon Hendricks, Eddie Henderson, Julian Priester,
Joe Henderson, Jessica Williams and Carlos Santana.
A former member of the faculty at the Cornish College
for the Arts, Hadley was recently inducted into the
Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame.
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Travis Ranney
(tenor sax) is recognized in Seattle as
one of the very best jazz improvisers
in the city. He studied at the University of
Washington School of Music and is a former
student of Don Lanphere and Michael Brockman.
He has worked in Seattle and traveled with numerous bands,
including the Bob Florence Band, the Port Townsend Festival Big Band,
and the Friendly Fire Big Band.
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Trumpets
Jay Thomas
(trumpet) is among the leading jazz
soloists in Seattle, appearing with his
own group and as a guest soloist
throughout the Northwest. The Jay Thomas
Group has recorded several successful
CDs /albums, and Thomas has also
recorded with Cedar Walton, Herb Ellis,
and with his wife, Becca Duran.
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Thomas Marriott
(trumpet) is a graduate of the jazz programs of both the
University of Washington and Garfield
High School. In 1998 he was named
Emerging Artist of the Year by the
readers of Earshot Jazz Magazine and in
1999 he was the winner of the Carmine
Caruso International Jazz Trumpet
Competition. In 2000 he joined the
Maynard Ferguson Orchestra and moved to
New York City. After completing five
world tours with Ferguson, Thomas worked
and/or recorded in and around New York
with luminaries such as Rosemary
Clooney, The Tito Puente Orchestra,
Ritchie Cole, Eric Reed, The Chico
OíFarrell Orchestra, Bob Berg, Brian
Lynch Orchestra, Bebo Valdez, & Joe
Locke. Now making his home in Seattle,
Thomas released his first solo album,
"Individuation" in February of 2005.
Thomas is a C.G.Conn sponsored artist.
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Trombones
Bill Anthony
(lead trombone) has performed as a soloist with
bands on both coasts of the U.S., including the
J.J. Johnson band in New York and here in
Seattle with the Clarence Acox Sextet, Roadside
Attraction, and Bochinche. He instructs at both
Garfield High School and Washington Middle
School.
Scott Brown
(trombone) is a graduate of the University of
Washington and the nationally recognized
director of the Roosevelt High School bands. He
is a featured performer with numerous Seattle
ensembles including Latin Expression and the
Jazz Police.
David Bentley
(bass trombone) is the director of bands at Mercer
Island High School. He is a graduate of both the
University of Washington and the University of
Miami. He was recently singled out from all
teachers in the State of Washington as recipient
of the "Director Who Makes a Difference" award
by School Band and Orchestra Magazine.
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Dan Marcus
(trombone/tuba/percussion)
started playing semi-professionally at
age nine alongside his father in several
Bay area Dixie bands. He toured
extensively with the Ray
Charles and Woody Herman Orchestras,
among others. Dan performed
for a number of years in Teatro Zinzanni
and now appears regularly with
the Ramsay-Kleeb Big Band,
the Big Bad Groove Society and
the Type A! Funk Band,
along with extensive arranging,
freelancing and studio work.
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Rhythm Section
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Randy Halberstadt
(piano) is among Seattle's most in-demand players,
leading his own groups and appearing year-round with top
Seattle musicians and guest from across
the nation. He has performed with Herb
Ellis, Buddy de Franco, Nick Brignola,
Terry Gibbs, Slide Hampton, Pete
Christlieb, Bobby Shew, Joe LaBarbera,
Lanny Morgan, John Stowell, David
Friesen, Kim Richmond, Don Lanphere,
Jiggs Whigham, Roswell Rudd, Jack
Walrath, Gary Smulyan, Julian Priester,
Mel Brown, and many others. Recently,
Randy recorded with Bay area guitarist
Mimi Fox and the world renowned Ray
Drummond on bass. Randy is also on the
faculty of the Cornish School for the
Arts and the Centrum Jazz Workshop.
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Larry Fuller
(piano) was born in Ohio, and gained national
recognition in 1988 through international tours
and recordings with singer Ernestine Anderson.
In 1989, he moved to Seattle to continue working
with Anderson, and became immediately active
with many of the top groups in Seattle's jazz
culture, including the Jeff Hamilton Trio. In
2000, Larry joined the legendary Ray Brown Trio,
and remained with Brown, touring and performing
with him until the bassist's death in 2002.
Larry has performed with a veritable "who's who"
of jazz, including Harry "Sweets" Edison, Phil
Woods, Clark Terry, Bennie Golson, and Eddie
Harris, and appears on recordings with Dee
Daniels, the Jeff Hamilton Trio, and many
others. The recently released Larry Fuller Trio
CD "Easy Walker" (Pony Boy Records) was awarded
the Earshot Jazz 2004 "Golden Ear Award" for
Best Northwest Recording.
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Phil Sparks
(bass) is among the leading bassists in Seattle,
having performed with nearly every top jazz group in the city.
He records extensively with many of the Northwest's
top names, and received a special mention as a
star of the Seattle scene in the February, 1994,
issue of Downbeat Magazine.
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Clarence Acox, co-director and drummer,
was voted the 1992 Earshot Jazz "Musician of the
Year". He directs the award-winning Garfield
High School jazz ensemble and is among Seattle's busiest drummers. A
native of New Orleans, he graduated from
Southern University and recently received
national recognition as recipient of the
Educator of the Year Award from Downbeat
Magazine. His own sextet has won numerous
awards for its CD recordings "Joannaís Dance"
and "Indigenous Groove". Acox can also be heard
as a regular member of the Floyd Standifer
Group. He serves annually as a faculty artist
for the renowned Bud Shank/Centrum Jazz Workshop.
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