John Ellis, saxophone

John Ellis is one of New York’s premiere tenor saxophone voices. With more than 150 album credits as a sideman, John has recorded with a wide variety of artists such as Charlie Hunter, Robert Glasper, Darcy James Argue, Helen Sung, Kendrick Scott Oracle, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and Sting.  John was the 2^nd place winner of the prestigious Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition in 2002, he was the recipient of three composition grants through The Jazz Gallery for the creation of new work (“Dreamscapes”, “The Ice Siren”, and “MOBRO”) and he was selected as the 2014 Make Jazz Fellow by the 18^th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica.  John has released fourteen albums as a leader, three of those featuring his New Orleans-centered band Double-Wide, which has toured extensively and was featured on the Main Stage of the 2012 Newport Jazz Festival. He co-produced the music for the children’s book series “Baby Loves Jazz” with Aaron Goldberg, and he wrote the theme music for the NPR podcast, “Rough Translation.” His latest album, “Bizet: Carmen in Jazz”, was released on Blue Room Music in December of 2023 and features Reuben Rogers, Gary Versace, and Jason Marsalis.

This ad hoc ensemble presents a variety of repertoire once per semester by composers and band leaders such as the Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band, Miles Davis Birth of the Cool, Marty Paich/Art Pepper + Eleven, Boyd Reaburn/George Handy, Gil Evans etc. The ensemble is led by various faculty members and is by assignment.