Born: July 18, 1991 Primary Instrument: Sax, tenor
Saxophonist Nicole Glover, 18, is a graduate of Tigard High School in Tigard, Oregon. As a member of the Pacific Crest Jazz Orchestra and American Music Program directed by Thara Memory, Nicole has performed -- and placed first -- across the United States at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington Competition in New York City; the Berklee High School Jazz Competition in Boston; the Next Generation Jazz Festival and Monterey Jazz Festival in California; the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Idaho; the Savannah Music Festival’s Swing Central Competition in Georgia; the North Texas Jazz Festival; the Clark College Jazz Festival in Vancouver, Washington; and the Northwest Jazz Band Festival in Oregon. She is also a member of the top sextet at the Alan Jones Academy of Music and a member of Portland’s Metropolitan Youth Symphony’s Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Derek Sims. As a saxophone student of David Valdez, Nicole has won Outstanding Soloist Awards at the Willamette Jazz Festival and North Texas Jazz Festival, as well as Tigard High’s Louis Armstrong Jazz Award (for 2 years in a row). Nicole has had the pleasure of performing or playing with such great musicians as Mulgrew Miller, Rich Perry, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby Watson, Christian Scott, Mel Brown, Julian Lage, Bernard Purdie, Paquito D’Rivera, Javon Jackson, Eric Alexander, Wycliffe Gordon, Gary Smulyan, Red Holloway, David Ornette Cherry, Terell Stafford, Jeff Clayton, Dana Hall, and Thara Memory. Starting this fall, Nicole will be studying under Rich Perry at William Paterson University in New Jersey. 2009 will be her first year selected to the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.
