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Ellen Rowe

Ellen Rowe, jazz pianist and composer, is currently Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Rayburn Wright and Bill Dobbins. Prior to her appointment in Michigan, she served as Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Connecticut.

Winner of the Hartford, CT Advocate Readers’ Poll for Best Acoustic Jazz, Ms. Rowe has performed at jazz clubs and on concert series throughout the U.S., as well as touring in Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Ireland, Poland, South Africa and Australia. CDs out under her own name include “Sylvan Way”, “Wishing Well”, “Denali Pass” and “Courage Music.” Her latest project, “Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion”, featuring Ingrid Jensen, Tia Fuller, Marion Hayden and Allison Miller will be released in the fall of 2018. Also active as a clinician, she has given workshops and master classes at the Melbourne Conservatory, Hochshule fur Musik in Cologne, Grieg Academy in Bergen and the Royal Academy of Music in London, in addition to many appearances as a guest artist at festivals and Universities around the country.

When not leading her own trio, quartet or quintet, she is in demand as a sideman, having performed with a wide variety of jazz artists including Kenny Wheeler, Tim Ries, Tom Harrell, John Clayton, Ingrid Jensen and Steve Turre. She was also a guest on two installments of Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz” on National Public Radio.

Ms. Rowe's compositions and arrangements have been performed and recorded by jazz ensembles and orchestras around the world, including the Village Vanguard Orchestra, BBC Jazz Orchestra, U.S. Navy Commodores, Berlin and NDR Radio Jazz Orchestras, London Symphony, DIVA and the Perth Jazz Orchestra. Many of these works can be heard on recordings including “Leave It To DIVA”, “The Perth Jazz Orchestra”, “Bingo” (The Bird of Paradise Orchestra) and “I Believe In You” (DIVA). She has recently been a composer-in-residence at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Recent jazz ensemble commissions include the Minnesota Band Directors Association, Belleville (MI) High School, Illinois Music Educators and Lawrence University’s Fred Sturm Jazz Festival. Her big band compositions are currently published by Sierra Music Publications, Doug Beach Music and Kendor Music.

Having been selected to conduct the NAfME All-Eastern and All-Northwest Jazz Ensembles as well as All-State jazz ensembles throughout the country, she has also been an invited clinician at the National Association for Music Education Eastern Division Convention , International Society for Jazz Composition and Arranging Symposium and Jazz Education Network conferences.

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5
Album Review

Ellen Rowe Octet: Momentum

Read "Momentum" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


At a time when women are gaining more prominence in every field, it's no surprise there are more and more all-female jazz groups popping up. This particular octet, led by pianist Ellen Rowe, takes that a step farther with a CD that delves into women's history. They have recorded a set of Rowe compositions that honor women from the worlds of politics, arts, sports and science who have inspired her. The album begins with “Ain't I A Woman," ...

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Album Review

Ellen Rowe: Momentum: Portraits of Women in Motion

Read "Momentum: Portraits of Women in Motion" reviewed by Chris Mosey


An all-women jazz band playing songs about women--this is a CD whose time has surely come. Pianist Ellen Rowe has duly put together a collection of original songs lauding her gender. She says: “Each piece on this album is a tribute to women heroes of mine in disciplines ranging from music to social justice, environmental advocacy, sports and politics... the many amazing women who have had a profound influence on me. This album is a celebration of ...

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Multiple Reviews

The Sound Of Progress: Lioness And Ellen Rowe

Read "The Sound Of Progress: Lioness And Ellen Rowe" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


The voices of women who've been marginalized, demeaned, abused, and overlooked will no longer be silenced. The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have pulled the curtains back on deplorable actions and practices that have run rampant in all corners of society, the jazz world being no exception. With scandals airing out hidden truths at the Berklee College of Music, individual musicians and educators being held accountable for their inexcusable actions the world over, and brave victims speaking out, the tide is ...

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Album Review

Ellen Rowe Quartet: Wishing Well

Read "Wishing Well" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose


Ellen Rowe's uniquely modern sensibility echoes throughout Wishing Well. Rowe is a virtuoso pianist who blends the dreamy abstractions of nineteenth century impressionism with the nervous energy of a bebop player. She plays as she breathes--sometimes in shallow gasps indicating an extreme sense of urgency, and at other times in seemingly endless runs with dallying notes and interminable phrases as if her lungs, filled with air, have propelled her arms and fingers into an endless sequence of events. Both aspects ...

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Album Review

Ellen Rowe Quartet: Wishing Well

Read "Wishing Well" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins


Sometimes, less is more. In the case of Wishing Well, the Ellen Rowe Quartet delivers plenty of good sound, simply by playing rather than trying to be trendy. Rowe has been part of groups led by musicians as diverse as Ray Charles and John Zorn. Born in Ridgefield, Connecticut, she began playing piano by ear at the age of 4. Her jazz studies began in high school. Accompanying Rowe are saxophonist Andrew Bishop, bassist Kurt Krahnke ...

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Album Review

Ellen Rowe Quartet: Wishing Well

Read "Wishing Well" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Wishing Well is a beautifully crafted second album from the Ellen Rowe Quartet. Composer, arranger and pianist Rowe, a faculty member at the University of Michigan School of Music, formed the quartet in 2002, releasing her debut, Denali Pass (PKO Records), in 2005. Two albums in an eight-year history ensures that the band will never be labeled as prolific, but sometimes the best things are worth waiting for--and Wishing Well has certainly been worth the wait. The ...

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Album Review

Ellen Rowe: Sylvan Way

Read "Sylvan Way" reviewed by J. Robert Bragonier


Jazz pianist and composer Ellen Rowe currently serves as Associate Professor in the Department of Jazz Studies at the University of Michigan. Sylvan Way is her first CD as leader; she has been a guest on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz on National Public Radio and has performed with jazz artists such as Kenny Wheeler, Tim Ries, Tom Harrell, John Clayton, Ingrid Jensen and Jiggs Whigham.

On this effort she has surrounded herself predominantly with rhythm sections from the Detroit area. ...

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Contest

Enter the "Ellen Rowe - Courage Music" Giveaway at All About Jazz!

Enter the "Ellen Rowe - Courage Music" Giveaway at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz

All About Jazz members are invited to enter the PKO Records “Ellen Rowe - Courage Music“ giveaway contest starting today. We'll select FIVE winners at the conclusion of the contest on April 15th. Click here to enter the contest (Tracking Ellen Rowe at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.) Good luck! Your Friends at PKO Records About Courage Music Triple-threat pianist, composer and teacher Ellen Rowe is joined by trumpeter Ingrid Jensen for career masterwork, Courage Music. ...

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Recording

Ellen Rowe Quartet - Wishing Well (Pko)

Ellen Rowe Quartet - Wishing Well (Pko)

Source: Master of a Small House

Despite a surfeit of originals and uniformly strong musicianship, pianist Ellen Rowe's latest offering exudes a disconcerting air of familiarity. Postbop is a signifier applied to a wide swathe of new-millennial jazz. Rowe's music fits easily within the broad framework, but to my ears it's also emblematic of the term. The opening track, featuring guest flugelhornist Ingrid Jensen who also sits in on “Longing" later in the set, unfolds in lush dream-like fashion. Jensen sounds akin to Kenny Wheeler in ...

"The Ellen Rowe Quartet Performance at the International Association for Jazz Education conference was spellbinding. These Ann Arbor musicians are world class and held their own with all the national names." - Linda Yohn, Music Director, WEMU radio

"Ellen Rowe's new release [Denali Pass] is a beautifully balanced and inspired journey, that showcases her abilities as a strong conceptualist pianist and band leader. Everyone contributes exciting performances throughout." - Geri Allen

"Rowe's writing stands comparison with the best contemporary jazz composers. The Ellen Rowe Quartet deserves wider recognition, with the beautifully realized Wishing Well a rich and engaging testament to this band's talent." –Bruce Lindsay, AllAboutJazz.com

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Kansas City Area Youth Jazz
band / ensemble / orchestra

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Momentum: Portraits...

Smokin' Sleddog Records
2019

buy

Momentum

Smokin' Sleddog
2019

buy

Courage Music

PKO Records
2014

buy

Wishing Well

PKO Records
2010

buy

Sylvan Way

BOPO Records
2003

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