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Greg Yasinitsky
Greg Yasinitsky, saxophonist and composer, leader of the YAZZ Band, winner of the American Prize for Composition, has hundreds of pubiished musical works, which are performed in over forty countries world-wide, and is a recipient of grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Commission Project of New York, Meet the Composer West, ASCAP, Artist Trust, Washington State Music Teachers Association (WSMTA) and the Washington Music Educators Association (WMEA). Yasinitsky has written music especially for David Sanborn, Clark Terry, David Liebman, Sean Jones, Tia Fuller, Jeff Coffin and the USAF “Airmen of Note” big band. Yasinitsky's playing and jazz compositions can be heard on over fifty compact discs including recordings released on his own label, YAZZ Recordings. As a saxophonist, Yasinitsky has appeared with numerous distinguished artists including Tom Harrell, Alex Acuna, Conrad Herwig, Randy Brecker, Marcus Printup, Ed Calle, Kirk Whalum, Lou Rawls, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Louie Bellson, Stan Getz, Lionel Hampton, Manhattan Transfer, Mel Torme and Clark Terry. Additionally, Yasinitsky is Principal Saxophonist with the Spokane Symphony and has performed as a member of the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Oakland Symphony. Yasinitsky has been the subject of articles and reviews in DownBeat, Jazz Player, Saxophone Journal, The Instrumentalist, Jazz Educators Journal and Yamaha's New Ways magazines, and has contributed articles to numerous scholarly journals. Yasinitsky is a Yamaha performing artist and JodyJazz artist. He is an emeritus professor at Washington State University, where he served in the School of Music for 40 years teaching jazz studies, saxophone and composition. Yasinitsky is is a member of the Washington Music Educators Hall of Fame, and is a recipient of the WSU Eminent Faculty Award, the top honor for faculty at WSU and the College of Arts And Sciences Distinguished Faculty Award. Yasinitsky earned degrees at the Eastman School of Music (DMA) and San Francisco State University (MA, BM). His teachers in composition include Pulitzer Prize winners Joseph Schwantner and Wayne Peterson, and renowned composers Lou Harrison, Samuel Adler and Robert Morris. His jazz teachers include famed saxophonist Joe Henderson and masterclasses with the Dean of Jazz Education, David Baker.
Awards
American Prize for Orchestral Composition, Washington State University Eminent Faculty Award, WSU College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Faculty Award, Washington Artist Trust Fellowship Award, ASCAP Special Awards for Composition, Washington Music Educators Hall of Fame, National Band Association Jazz Educator Award, National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Fellowship Award
Tags
Greg Yasinitsky YAZZ Band: New Normal
by Jack Bowers
As one good album clearly deserves another, Greg Yasinitsky, who wears many hatscomposer, arranger, woodwind specialist and educator among themhas released New Normal, the second impressive outing by his admirable Washington state-based ensemble, the YAZZ Band, which varies in size from septet to tentet. Unlike Yasinitsky's earlier album, YAZZ Band, which was recorded basically in one session with fixed personnel, the coronavirus pandemic upended any such plan this time, forcing an end to in-person studio sessions after five tracks had ...
read moreGreg Yasinitsky: YAZZ Band
by Jack Bowers
You're right, Greg Yasinitsky isn't a household name--apart from his own household, that is, and perhaps a handful of others in and around Pullman, WA, where Yasinitsky serves as professor of music and coordinator of Jazz Studies at Washington State University. And while his impressive debut album as overseer of the well-spoken YAZZ Band may not redress that shortcoming, it should at least bring Yasinitsky's music to the attention of a somewhat wider audience, which would be a win-win situation ...
read more"Yasinitsky is known as a superb composer and arranger." —Jack Bowers, AllAboutJazz.com. "Man, you play your CAN off!" —Lionel Hampton. "Thelonious would have LOVED your arrangements." —Nellie Monk. "In an evening of highlights, one...stood above the others: tenor saxophonist Greg Yasinitsky’s rendition of... 'Ask Me Now.'" —Don Adair, Spokane Spokesman Review. "[A] master musician..." —Larry Lapidus, Spokane Spokesman Review. "One of the finest Northwest jazz musicians." Jazz Player magazine
Primary Instrument
Saxophone
Willing to teach
Beginner to advanced
Credentials/Background
Greg is a Regents Professor at Washington State University in Pullman teaching jazz studies, saxophone and composition. He joined the WSU faculty in 1982 and has received numerous awards and accolades for his teaching.
Clinic/Workshop Information
Greg has presented clinics and masterclasses around the world on a variety of topics including saxophone techniques, composition, arranging, jazz pedagogy, improvisation, big band rehearsal techniques and more.
Music
G.P.
From: New NormalBy Greg Yasinitsky