Jazz Saxophonist & Bandleader

Greene Joins WCSU         

DANBURY — Saxophonist and bandleader Jimmy Greene, a master of jazz performance and composition whose recordings have earned international acclaim, will return to his Connecticut roots with his recent appointment to join the faculty of Western Connecticut State University’s department of music. Mr Greene will be featured with other members of the WCSU jazz faculty in concert at 7 pm on Sunday, July 15, in Ives Concert Hall in White Hall, 181 White Street. Admission is free.

Mr Greene, a Hartford native who has held a music faculty position at the University of Manitoba in Canada since 2009, has accepted an appointment effective August 27 to become assistant professor of music and assistant coordinator of jazz studies at Western.

Dr Daniel Goble, dean of the School of Visual and Performing Arts, said Greene’s “addition to our outstanding roster of jazz artists at WCSU represents a milestone in the history of the university’s renowned jazz studies program.”

The 37-year-old jazz artist, who began playing alto saxophone at age 6, formed his first quintet while attending Bloomfield High School and earned selection in 1993 for the Grammy All-American High School Band conducted by Branford Marsalis. He pursued music studies at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford, graduating summa cum laude in 1997, and embarked on his professional career in New York as a member of the quintet led by legendary jazz pianist Horace Silver. By the end of 1997, he debuted with his own quintet for a weeklong run at The Jazz Standard in New York and recorded his first album, Introducing Jimmy Greene.

During his faculty appointment at the University of Manitoba, Mr Greene taught saxophone, composition, arranging and jazz performance as well as serving as conductor of the university’s jazz band. He previously taught at the Hartt School, Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, and the State University of New York at Purchase.

For more information, contact the WCSU Office of University Relations at 203-837-8486.