Wayne Escoffery

Wayne Escoffery (born 23 February 1975 in London, England) is a jazz saxophonist based in New York City.

Performing history

Since 2000 he has been working in New York City with Carl Allen, Eric Reed, and the Charles Mingus Big Band. Other musicians performed with include Ralph Peterson, Ben Riley, Ron Carter, Rufus Reid, Bill Charlap, Bruce Barth, Jimmy Cobb, and Eddie Henderson. He has worked with vocalists including Stallings, Cynthia Scott, Nancie Banks, Laverne Butler and Carolyn Leonhart.

In addition to performing with his own Quartet and Quintet, Escoffery currently performs and tours with Ben Riley's Monk Legacy Septet, The Mingus Band, Abdullah Ibrahim's Akaya, The Carolyn Leonhart Group, and Jazz at Lincoln Center: The Music of Miles Davis. He is a member of The Tom Harrell Quintet.

:"This is a talented youngster capable of long, flowing lines, noteworthy creativity, and a broad range of expressiveness." - J. Robert Bragonier, writing in "All About Jazz" magazine

Biography

Wayne and his mother emigrated to the United States and settled in New Haven, Connecticut in 1986.

At eleven Escoffery joined The New Haven Trinity Boys Choir and began taking saxophone lessons from Malcolm Dickinson. At sixteen he left the choir and began a more intensive study of the saxophone, attending The Jazz Mobile in New York City, the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, and the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven. During his senior year in high School, he attended the Artists Collective in Hartford, Connecticut. He met Jackie McLean, a well known alto saxophonist and founder of the jazz program at The Hartt School.

Escoffery was then awarded a scholarship to attend The Hartt School, where he studied (1993-1997) with McLean and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Performance (1997). He then attended the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts (1997-1999). During this time he toured with Herbie Hancock and performed and studied with several jazz greats. He graduated with a Masters degree from the New England Conservatory in 1999 and moved to New York to begin his professional career.

Recordings

*Escoffery's first CD as a leader was “Times Change”, released September 2001 on Nagel-Heyer Records.
*Another CD, "Intuition" was released April 2004 on Nagel-Heyer Records.

External links

* [http://www.escofferymusic.com/ Wayne Escoffery's web site]
* [http://www.jazzchicago.net/reviews/wayneesc.html Review of Veneration at JazzChicago.net]