Anisha Rush

/by

Born and raised in Colorado Springs, CO, saxophonist, composer, and educator Anisha Rush began playing the saxophone at the age of 10 and went on to study music and psychology, earning a BM in Jazz Studies from the Thompson Jazz Studies Program and a BA in Psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

As a performer, Anisha’s noteworthy collaborations include performances alongside luminaries such as Makaya McCraven, Ron Miles, Matt Wilson, Dawn Clement, Greg Gisbert, Shane Endsley, Art Lande, and others. Anisha has performed at several festivals including Bonnaroo, DC Jazz Festival, Winter Jazz Fest, Telluride Jazz Festival, and Five Points Jazz Festival.

Anisha actively performs as bandleader of ‘Anisha Rush and the Encounter’, a dynamic ensemble that transcends boundaries and captivates audiences with its unique fusion of genres while still utilizing the improvisational traditions of jazz. The band refuses to be put in a box, and will often play music reminiscent of not only jazz but also soul, R&B, and gospel.

In 2023, Anisha was selected for the Next Jazz Legacy, an apprenticeship program led by New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. Additionally, Anisha Rush and the Encounter is a recipient of a 2024 grant from Chamber Music America’s Performance Plus program, funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Foundation.

Andrew Stephens

/by

Andrew Stephens is a trumpeter and educator based in NYC since 2021. He holds a Masters degree from Juilliard, and has performed Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony with the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra and Juilliard Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Andrew has been working outside of school with Kaleidoscope, a group he formed with two fellow students, as well as touring with the Hot Sardines; he also recently recorded an album with Electroveesedstene, a project he co-leads with Ben Goldberg, which features Kenny Wollesen, Ryan Ferreira, Hamir Atwal, Kai Lyons, and Michael Coleman.

Andrew was born in Sacramento and began playing at the age of 10, immediately interested in Louis Armstrong and traditional jazz, which was a strong part of the scene there. He moved to the Bay Area to get his BA in pure mathematics at UC Berkeley, and worked his way into the jazz scene outside of school. He was an instructor at Sonoma State University from 2018 until 2021, where he taught private lessons and led the university’s first early jazz ensemble for 2 semesters. In addition, he has taught at Stanford Jazz, the California Jazz Conservatory summer program, and the Teagarden Jazz Camp. He is the winner of the 2021 Ryan Anthony Memorial Trumpet Competition, and placed 2nd in the 2019 Carmine Caruso Competition. “

Anat Cohen

/by

Anat Cohen has won hearts and minds the world over with her expressive virtuosity and delightful stage presence. Anat has been voted Clarinetist of the Year six years in a row by the Jazz Journalists Association, as well as 2012’s Multi-Reeds Player of the Year. That’s not to mention her topping of critics and readers polls in DownBeat magazine several years running. Anat has toured the world with her quartet, headlining at the Newport, Umbria, SF Jazz, and North Sea jazz festivals as well as at such hallowed clubs as New York’s Village Vanguard. In September 2012, her own Anzic Records released her sixth album as a bandleader, Claroscuro. The album ranges from buoyant dances to darkly lyrical ballads, drawing inspiration from New Orleans and New York, Africa, and Brazil. In its ebullient, irresistible variety, Claroscuro encapsulates the description Jazz Police offered of Anat in full flight: “She becomes a singer, a poet, a mad scientist, laughing – musically – with the delight of reaching that new place, that new feeling, with each chorus.”

Anat collaborates regularly with one of her heroes, Cuban-American clarinetist-saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera, who introduced her onstage at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in the Jazz at Lincoln Center complex as “one of the greatest players ever of the clarinet.” She plays with George Wein’s Newport All-Stars and is a fixture on the New York scene at such clubs as Birdland, starring in a recent tribute to the music of Django Reinhardt, among much else. Anat has also appeared in New York at the Jazz Standard, Blue Note, Iridium, Joe’s Pub, and the Jazz Gallery, as well as other top clubs across the country and around the world – Yoshi’s in San Francisco, Blues Alley in Washington, D.C., Regatta Bar in Boston, the Sunset in Paris, Bimhuis in Amsterdam, Jazzclub Fasching in Stockholm, A Trane in Berlin, and Zappa in Tel Aviv. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Symphony Space in New York, along with Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center, Newark’s New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Boston’s Berklee Performance Center, the ORF-Kulturhaus in Vienna and Belgrade’s Kolarac Hall in Serbia. Anat has played the great jazz festivals the world over, including the JVC, Newport, Chicago, Monterey, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage, SF Jazz (San Francisco), Playboy (Los Angeles), Duke Ellington (Washington, D.C.), Montreal, Copenhagen, Jazz a Vienne, Umbria, North Sea (Netherlands), Tudo e Jazz (Brazil), Caesaria (Israel), and Zagreb Jazzarella festivals. Her performances have been broadcast internationally, including by WBGO, WFUV, WNYC, and NPR in the U.S. and Radio Netherlands, ORF (Austrian Radio), SR (Swedish Radio), and Radio Bremen (Germany).

Allie Biancoviso

/by

Allie Biancoviso is a trombonist, composer, and educator from Staten Island, New York. Currently residing in Miami, Allie graduated from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami with a master’s degree in jazz pedagogy while studying trombone with Dante Luciani. She also holds a bachelor’s in music education from Penn State where she studied trombone with Mark Lusk.

An experienced performer in jazz, classical, and popular music settings, Allie performs regularly with her band and as a freelancer. Most recently, Allie toured as a sideman with the Mike Davison Big Band in Santiago de Cuba at the Festival Internacional Jazz Plaza in January 2024. Her band, The Allie Biancoviso Quintet was featured as a finalist for the Music at McBride Performance Series in January 2024.

Allie serves as a teaching assistant for the University of Miami’s Shalala MusicReach Program where she provides jazz instruction at schools across Miami. She also currently serves as the Adjunct Instructor of Low Brass at Westminster Christian School.

In addition to performing, Allie has conducted research centered on ways to create inclusive learning environments for women in jazz. She has presented this research at multiple conferences including the 2023 Jazz Education Network Conference, 2022 Pennsylvania State Music Educators Conference, and 2021 New York State School Music Association Conference.
Allie will participated in Jazz Aspen’s JAS Academy. Allie is a recipient of the 2022 Jazz Education Network Hal Leonard Scholarship and 2022 Margot Jazz Fund Award. In 2020, Allie was selected to be a participant in both the Women in Jazz Organization’s Mentors Program and The International Women’s Brass Conference’s Mentorship Program where she studied with Kalia Vandever, Jennifer Wharton, and Andrea Neumann.

Adi Meyerson

/by

Adi Meyerson is an Israeli-raised bassist and composer. She was born in San Francisco to American parents. At the age of 2, she relocated with her family to Jerusalem, Israel, where she grew up and received her first musical training at the prestigious Charles A. Smith Jerusalem High School of the Arts on bass guitar at the age of 14. After graduating from high school, Adi started playing the upright bass in the search of a new sound that was more appropriate for jazz. Three months later, Adi was accepted to the prominent collaborative program between The Center of Jazz Studies (CJS) at the Israel Conservatory of Music and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. There she had the privilege to study and play with some of Israel’s finest musicians such as Amit Golan, Amos Hoffman, Ofer Ganor, Danny Rosenfeld, Erez Bar Noy, Yuval Cohen and many others, as well as the opportunity to work with international jazz legends such as Jimmy Cobb, Mulgrew Miller, Peter Bernstein and Eddie Henderson.

In August 2012, Adi moved to New York to continue her studies at The New School, graduating in 2014. There she studied with some of the great masters of the style such as Reggie Workman, Ron Carter, Charles Tolliver, Kirk Nurock, Billy Harper, Bob Cranshaw and many more.

Since Moving to New York, Adi has already made an impact on the NYC jazz scene and earned her reputation as an up-and-coming young talent. She has played with many local greats such as Joel Frahm, Joe Magnarelli, Steve Nelson, Charli Persip and many others around the NYC area in venues such as Mezzrow, Smalls Jazz, Fat Cat, Smoke Jazz, Minton’s, Zinc Bar, and Dizzy’s Coca Cola. She recently toured the US and recorded with the Champian Fulton band for Positone records.

As an educator, Adi has worked with bandleader and drummer LaFrae Sci at Jazz at Lincoln Center, as part of the Jazz For Young People program. She has also performed in schools around the New York area with The Jazz Drama Program, directed by Eli Yamin, bringing jazz, dance and theater to young people. Adi has also taught at Jazz House Kids as part of their yearly Chica Power residency.

Adi also leads her own band, The Adi Meyerson Band, and performs regularly in NYC. The band recorded its debut album Where We Stand in September 2017, and it will be released on June 5th on all platforms.

John Burn

/by

We are thrilled to welcome John Burn as director of the Giant Steps Big Band program!

John brings a wealth of experience as a top jazz educator, and is the Director of Bands and Orchestra and the Music Department Lead at Homestead High School, where he has taught since 1991. John is a Past-president of: California Music Educators Association, California Band Directors Association, California Music Educators Association Bay Section, Santa Clara County Band Directors Association, and the Santa Cruz Jazz Festival Board of Directors.

John has received several significant commendations including: the 2023 National Federation of High School Associations Region 7 (California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada & Hawaii) Outstanding Music Educator Award, a 2019 Grammy Music Educator Award Semi-finalist; the 2015 CBDA Distinguished Service Award; 2014 School Band & Orchestra Magazine’s California representative in their annual article, “50 Directors that Make a Difference”; the 2010 CMEA California Band Director of the Year; the 2009-2010 Homestead High School Teacher of the Year; and he is a 2009 Inductee to the John Philip Sousa Foundation’s Legion of Honor.

John is active as a guest conductor for honor groups and as an adjudicator for band, orchestra and jazz festivals. He has conducted seven different honor bands and orchestras so far including the 2018 California All-State Honor Junior High Concert Band. He has directed the Jazz Band, Orchestra and the Concert Band at Cazadero Performing Arts Camp. He is a regular adjudicator for CMEA Bay Section Band, Orchestra and Jazz Festivals and has also adjudicated concert and/or marching events in Santa Barbara, CA, and Reno, NV.

John is a contributing author in the book, “Teaching Music Through Performance in Orchestra,” Volume 4, GIA Publications, 2021, and has presented sessions at state and local conferences in California and Alaska.

Bands and orchestras under John’s direction consistently earn high ratings at regional, state, and international festivals, including performances in the Musikverein in Vienna, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Kobe Jazz Festival in Kobe, Japan, Carnegie Hall in New York City, and Disney Hall in Los Angeles. The Homestead Marching Band performed in the 2011 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the 2018 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena.

John plays lead trumpet in a semi-professional jazz band called, “The Footnotes,” and is marching with the “Saluting America’s Band Directors” Band Director Marching Band in the 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade as he did with this band in the 2022 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade.

John holds a B.A. in Music Education from UCLA and a Master’s Degree in Music Education from the University of Illinois, and graduated from the high school where he now teaches, Homestead High. John lives in Santa Cruz, with his patient and supportive wife, Allison.

Nick Panoutsos

/by

In the three years that Nick Panoutsos has been teaching for SJW, he’s become one of the most popular of all SJW’s bass instructors. His expertise is vast, and his mastery of the instrument is truly impressive. But best of all, Nick loves teaching, and his warm and easy-going manner makes him a favorite among our students of all ages.

Nick has become an increasingly prominent voice in the New York City jazz community since moving from the San Francisco Bay Area in 2016. He has earned a reputation as a versatile collaborator and leader on both upright and electric bass. His forthcoming album, Monos, features solo bass performances of his own compositions and Greek folk songs. Originally from San Jose, California, Panoutsos studied with Bruce Moyer, principal bass of Monterey Symphony, and John Shifflett, the beloved first-call Bay Area jazz bassist. Both musicians helped to refine Panoutsos’s technique and gave him the skills necessary to pick up work as a sideman, and eventually a bandleader.

When he moved to New York, Panoutsos began taking lessons with Martin Wind, Gregg August, and Yasushi Nakamura, in addition to performing several nights a week at clubs in midtown Manhattan and the East Village. Throughout his time in New York, Panoutsos has collaborated with Queens-based singer songwriter duendita, and has performed with pianist Gil Goldstein. During return visits to the West Coast, he has led his own band at the San Jose Jazz Festival, toured locally and recorded with the Richard Howell Quartet, and performed alongside Bay Area improvisers Steven Lugerner and Richard Sears. Nick teaches private music lessons for all ages in Brooklyn.

Mikailo Kasha

/by

Mikailo Kasha is an award-winning bassist, composer, and bandleader based in Miami, Florida. Currently considered to be among “the top 1% of bassists worldwide”, as stated by Scotty Barnhart of the Count Basie Orchestra, Kasha is a dynamic bandleader, versatile sideman, and a prodigious voice on both upright and electric bass.

Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Kasha is an alumnus of renowned incubator programs including the SFJAZZ High School All-Stars, San Jose Jazz All Stars, and the Stanford Jazz Institute. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Music from Florida State University, studying under bassist Rodney Jordan and pianist Marcus Roberts, and completed a Master’s in Jazz Performance at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. He is currently pursuing a second master’s degree in Live Entertainment Management at Frost.

A three-time DownBeat student award winner, Kasha received the 2022 “Jazz Soloist” award in the graduate division and an “Outstanding Performance” award for his trio. He also earned an Outstanding Soloist award in 2019. Kasha has been mentored by leading jazz figures such as Rufus Reid (Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute), Christian McBride (Jazz Aspen’s JAS Academy), Ben Wendel (Siena Jazz Workshop), and Maria Schneider (Generations Workshop, Switzerland).

In 2024, Kasha premiered the music from his upcoming record at the Stanford Jazz Festival with his working trio featuring star saxophonist Dayna Stephens. He has also appeared at festivals like San Jose Festival, Rochester Jazz Festival, and hallowed Bay Area venues like Café Stritch, SFJazz, Mr. Tipples, and Club Deluxe. As a sideman, Kasha has collaborated with Nestor Torres, Nick Finzer, Dave Meder, Stephen Scott, and Sal Valentinetti.

Beyond performance, Kasha is deeply committed to jazz education and community leadership. He serves as the Executive Director of the Miami Jazz Cooperative, is on faculty at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, and leads the High School Honors Jazz Combo at Miami Country Day School.

Marcus Shelby

/by

Marcus Anthony Shelby is a composer, bassist, bandleader, and educator who currently lives in San Francisco, California. His work focuses on the history, present, and future of African American lives social movements and music education.

In 1990, Marcus Shelby received the Charles Mingus Scholarship to attend Cal Arts and study composition with James Newton and bass with Charlie Haden. Currently, Shelby is the Artistic Director of Healdsburg Jazz, an artist in residence with the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, and a past resident artist with the San Francisco Jazz Festival and the Healdsburg Jazz Festival. Shelby has composed several oratorios and suites including “Harriet Tubman”, “Beyond the Blues: A Prison Oratorio”, “Soul of the Movement: Meditations on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”, “Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues”, “Green and Blues”, and a children’s opera “Harriet’s Spirit” produced by Opera Parallel 2018. Shelby also composed the score and performed in Anna Deavere Smith’s Off-Broadway Play and HBO feature film “Notes from the Field” (2019). Shelby is also the voice of Ray Gardener in the 2020 Oscar-Winning Disney Pixar film “SOUL”. Shelby has also worked with a range of artists including Angela Y. Davis’ “Blues Legacies and Black Feminism” (2019), Joanna Haigood’s “Dying While Black and Brown” (2014), Margo Hall’s “Bebop Baby” (2013), and “Sonny’s Blues” (2008), the Oakland Ballet’s “Ella” The SF Girl Choir (2013), The Oakland Youth Chorus (2014), and many other productions over the past 23 years. Shelby has served on the San Francisco Arts Commission since 2013 and has worked with the Equal Justice Society for over 20 years. The Marcus Shelby Orchestra has released 5 CDs–“The Lights Suite”, “Port Chicago”, “Harriet Tubman”, “Soul of the Movement: Meditations on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”, and “Transitions”.

Ben Williams

/by

When it comes to black music, Washington, D.C. produces its share of game-changers. That long list includes Duke Ellington, Chuck Brown, Marvin Gaye, Shirley Horn, Roberta Flack, Bad Brains, Meshell Ndegeocello, Wale, and Oddisee. You can add Ben Williams to that venerated roster.

For more than a decade, Williams has steadily become one of the most acclaimed and versatile bassists in modern jazz. In 2009, he won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. He has performed/recorded with such giants as Pat Metheny, George Benson, Stefon Harris, David Sanborn, Lauryn Hill, Wynton Marsalis, Robert Glasper, Maxwell, and Nicholas Payton. In 2013 and 2015 Williams received the DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll Rising Star Award for Bass. Williams became a “Rising Star” when he won the 2009 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Bass Competition Award that landed him his first record-deal with Concord Records. Thereafter, he recorded and released State of Art in 2011 with his band, Sound Effect. The Album received an impressive 4.5 Star Review in DownBeat Magazine and reached #1 on the charts of iTunes and the National BillBoard. He was named the 2011 iTtunes Breakthrough Artist of the Year in the category of jazz.

As a leader, Williams revealed his talents as a keen composer and bandleader on his first two Concord Records albums – State of Art (2011) and Coming of Age (2015). As gripping as those albums are, they don’t prepare you for Williams’ newest album, I AM A MAN, released Rainbow Blonde, a new imprint co-owned by singer, songwriter, and kindred spirit, José James. Sonically, the new album departs grandly from the mostly acoustic instrumental settings of his previous albums. Williams imbued his love for modern R&B and hip-hop and his socio-political awareness subtly on State of Art and Coming of Age. But on I AM A MAN, he brings them to the fore with mesmerizing vocal-centric songs that will surely raise his profile higher in modern soul and rap circles.

With the help from sound engineer Brian Bender, I AM A MAN boasts a humid and hazy sound that recalls Soulaquarian albums released by The Roots, Erykah Badu, Bilal, D’Angelo, Common, and Roy Hargrove’s RH Factor. “I wanted to make this not just a musical statement, but sonically, I wanted to dig into a different sound. We had the opportunity to work in the studio to craft some sounds. What you hear is Brian’s brilliance with engineering. I wanted this record to deal with the past, present, and future,” Williams says.