Artist: Michael Dease
Michael Patrick Dease is an American jazz tenor and bass trombonist, composer and producer. He also plays saxophone, trumpet, flugelhorn, bass and piano.
Michael Dease was born in Augusta, Georgia and attended John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet High School, where he studied saxophone and voice. At age 17, Michael taught himself to play trombone, and was soon invited to join the inaugural class of the Juilliard jazz studies program by Wycliffe Gordon.
Dease earned bachelor's degree and a master's degree at The Jiulliard School. His teachers included Gordon, Steve Turre, Vincent Gardner, John Drew and Joseph Alessi. While at Juilliard, Dease won many awards, including the Frank Rosolino Award, J.J. Johnson Award, the Sammy Nestico Jazz Composers Award, ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award, and the Fish Middleton Jazz Competition.
He began his career in Illinois Jacquet's Big Band in 2002, and has performed as a featured member of the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, Christian McBride Big Band, Roy Hargrove Big Band, Nicholas Payton Big Band, Jimmy Heath Big Band and the Charles Tolliver Big Band.
Dease also performs with small groups led by Claudio Roditi, Rodney Whitaker, Wycliffe Gordon, and David Sanborn. In addition to performance, Dease serves and president and producer at his jazz record label, D Clef Records.
Dease has toured extensively throughout Europe, Asia, North America and Latin America. Previous engagements include the Nice Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Tims Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Toronto Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival and the Spoleto Music Festival. He was a guest artist at the International Trombone Festival June 22–25, 2011 at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Dease had conducted master classes and workshops at universities and conservatories around the world, including the University of Costa Rica, Osaka University, Michigan State University, Augusta State University, Broward College, Simpson College, Scranton University, and Northeastern University. He directs the Jazz Institute at the Brevard Music Center Summer Institute and Festival.
Currently, Dease holds the position of Associate Professor of Jazz Trombone at the Michigan State University College of Music. He has also held similar positions at Queens College, CUNY, and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City.
Further information about Michael Dease is found at MichaelDease.com.
This content was excerpted from the Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dease, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).
Michael Dease with WDR Big Band
Michael Dease: Videos
"Autumn Leaves" US Army Blues with Michael Dease 2016
Michael Dease Quintet