Coaches 24/25
Sylvie Courvoisier
Kris Davis
Anders Jormin
Pianist-composer Sylvie Courvoisier, a native of Switzerland, has earned just renown for balancing two distinct worlds: the deep, richly detailed chamber music of her European roots and the grooving, hook-laden sounds of the downtown jazz scene in New York City, her home for more than two decades sylviecourvoisier.com Few artists feel truly at ease in both concert halls and jazz clubs, playing improvised or composed music. But Courvoisier – “a pianist of equal parts audacity and poise,” according to The New York Times – is as compelling when performing Stravinsky’s iconic Rite of Spring in league with flamenco dancer-choreographer Israel Galván and pianist Cory Smythe as she is when improvising with her own widely acclaimed jazz trio, featuring bassist Drew Gress and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Then there are her ear-opening collaborations with such avant-jazz luminaries as John Zorn, Wadada Leo Smith, Evan Parker, Ikue Mori, Ellery Eskelin, Susie Ibarra, Fred Frith, Andrew Cyrille, Mark Feldman, Ken Vandermark, Nate Wooley and Mary Halvorson. In music as in life, Courvoisier crosses borders with a creative spirit and a free mind; her music-making is as playful as it is intense, as steeped in tradition as it is questing and intrepid. JazzTimes has said: “Courvoisier keeps you on the edge of your seat because it feels like the piano cannot contain her. Her careening solos seem to overwhelm and overflow the keyboard and keep spilling.” Her most recent albums include SEARCHING FOR THE DISAPPEARED HOUR (Pyroclastic, 2021) a duo with Mary Halvorson ; TIME GONE OUT ( Intakt, 2019), a duo with Mark Feldman; the Sylvie Courvoisier Trio with Drew Gress & Kenny Wollesen: FREE HOOPS (Intakt, 2020) and D'AGALA (Intakt, 2018); LOCKDOWN (Clean Feed, 2021), a Trio with Ned Rothenberg and Julian Sartorius. She currently teaches at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.
Pianist-composer Kris Davis was named 2017 Rising Star Pianist/2018 Rising Star Artist in Downbeat magazine and dubbed one of the music?s top up-and-comers in a 2012 New York Times article titled "New Pilots at the Keyboard", with the newspaper saying: "One method for deciding where to hear jazz on a given night has been to track down the pianist Kris Davis." krisdavis.net To date, Davis has released twelve recordings as leader. Her 2016 release, Duopoly, made The New York Times, Pop Matters, NPR, LA Times, and Jazz Times best albums of 2016. Davis works as a collaborator and side person with artists such as John Zorn, Terri Lyne Carrington, Craig Taborn, Tyshawn Sorey, Eric Revis, Michael Formanek, Tony Malaby, Ingrid Laubrock, Julian Lage, Mary Halvorson and Tom Rainey. Davis received a Doris Duke Impact award in 2015 and multiple commissions to compose new works from The Shifting Foundation, The Jazz Gallery/Jerome Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts. She is the Associate Program Director of Creative Development for the Insitute Jazz and Gender Justice at Berklee College of Music.
“My aim as an artist was always simply to find and explore my own natural voice, my own conception of playing my instrument, and my music within the very generous but still style-founded field we call ‘improvised music’.” Anders Jormin Anders Jormin, born 1957 in Jönköping, Sweden, has been hailed by Down Beat as “a treasure – everything a bassist should be”. The son of a jazz musician, he graduated from Gothenburg’s Musikhögskolan with diplomas in double-bass and improvisation/pedagogy in 1979. He was influenced not just by his classical and jazz training, but also Sweden’s folk tradition; he recalled to John Kelman: “I always had those three things going on in my head. I take all my inspirations and influences into some kind of melting pot inside my heart, and what comes out is, I hope, my personality.” By the mid-80s Jormin was firmly established on the Swedish scene. He arrived at ECM thanks to pianist Bobo Stenson, who showcased him in his trio and brought him into the groups of Charles Lloyd and Tomasz Stanko.. Albums under Jprmin’sown name for the label include Xieyi (meaning “to write”), which juxtaposes pieces for solo bass with compositions for brass ensemble; the song cycle In winds, in light, for a group whose personnel includes US pianist Marilyn Crispell and Swedish folksinger Lena Willemark; Ad Lucem, which includes settings of Latin verse composed by Jormin; and Trees of Light with Willemark and koto player Karin Nakagawa. For almost 30 years Jormin has been a teacher of double bass and improvisation at Gothenburg’s Musikhögskolan, where he has played a key role in building up a leading improvised music department. In 2003 he was given an honorary doctorate at Finland’s Sibelius Academy. He is four-times winner of Sweden’s annual award for the best jazz recording and is the first contemporary improviser ever to become a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Music.
Guillermo Klein
Linda May Han Oh
Wolfgang Muthspiel
Artistic Director
The craft of composition has been a part of Guillermo Klein's life since his childhood in Argentina. Klein's father presented him with a piano when he turned 11 years old and, inspired by the legendary Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla, he promptly began his experimentation with writing songs. Klein left Argentina to attend Berklee College of Music after hearing a moving speech by the former dean Gary Burton about his relationship working with Piazzolla. Klein intended to study classical music on his arrival but found himself among peers that were passionate about jazz. The music of Wayne Shorter provided the bridge from classical to jazz studies. Being a fan of unique harmonic expression, Klein was easily drawn to the work of this master composer who is deemed to be one of the most intriguing harmonic architects in jazz. Klein was also able to develop a talented network of musical friends, many of which came to Berklee from South America. This group of colleagues provided the framework for what would eventually become Klein's main musical voice, the Big Van large ensemble that would later become Los Guachos. After graduating from Berklee, Klein moved to New York City like many of his fellow graduates. He settled into Greenwich Village and quickly became associated with a jazz club called Smalls where he established a weekly engagement with his 17-piece Big Van band that incorporated musicians living in New York as well as commuters from Boston. Smalls was critical in fostering a community of young artists that would ultimately be some of the most influential voices of modern jazz. Klein later scaled the band down to a more streamlined 11 piece unit that began to be known as Los Guachos (roughly translated, the bastards). The band continued to develop with the help of residences at Smalls and, later, the Jazz Standard. After recording an album that was ultimately shelved, Klein was able to find a home with Sunnyside Records where he as been ever since. The label soon released two CDs by Los Guachos: Los Guachos II (1999) and Los Guachos III (2002). Klein moved back to Argentina in the early fall of 2000 with his wife. While in Argentina, Klein made a recording alongside local musicians, Una Nave (Sunnyside, 2005). Since then he has released a series of critically-acclaimed CDs with Los Guachos including: Live in Barcelona (Sunnyside, 2005), Filtros (Sunnyside, 2008) and his latest, Carrera (Sunnyside, 2012). Other important recordings include his work as a composer and/or arranger on " Solar Return Suite (with the MIT Wind Ensemble), Domador de Huellas (Sunnyside, 2010), Bienestan (Sunnyside 2011) with Aaron Goldberg and Miguel Zenon's Grammy-nominated, Alma Aldentro. In addition to teaching composition in Buenos Aires, Klein has given master classes and seminars throughout Europe, including the Jazz Institut Berlin, Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Jazz Schule Basel, and Le Mirail in Toulouse.
Born in Malaysia, raised in, Perth, Western Australia, Linda began playing piano, bassoon and at fifteen dabbled on electric bass playing jazz in high school bands while playing a lot of Red Hot Chili Peppers. Linda studied at the W.A Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) where she graduated with first-class honors. lindamayhanoh.com She was a James Morrison Scholarship Finalist in 2003 and in 2004 was an IAJE Sister in Jazz and received the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer’s award in 2008. She also received an honorary mention at the 2009 Thelonious Monk Bass Competition and received the 2010 Bell Award for Young Australian Artist of the Year. In 2010 she was nominated for the Jazz Journalist’s Awards for Up and Coming Artist of the Year, and received the award of No. 1 Acoustic Bass Rising Star in the Downbeat Critic’s Poll. This same year she received 2nd place at the BASS2010 Competition in Berlin. Linda completed her Masters at the Manhattan School of Music in 2008 studying with Jay Anderson, John Riley, Phil Markowitz, Dave Liebman and Rodney Jones. She now teaches the precollege division there and is involved in jazz videoconference master-classes for high-schools around the US. As an active teacher she was also involved in creating a series of lessons for the up and coming BassGuru app for iPad and iPhone. Linda has performed with the musicians such as Joe Lovano, Steve Wilson, Vijay Iyer, Dave Douglas, Kenny Barron, Geri Allen, Fabian Almazan, and Terri Lyne Carrington. She is currently the bassist with guitarist, Pat Metheny. Linda is an active double bassist, electric bassist and composer, composing music for various ensembles and short films, also participating in the BMI Film Composers Workshop and Sundance Labs at Skywalker Ranch. Linda composed for Sabrina McCormick’s short film “A Good Egg” which was featured in the New York Shorts Festival. In 2009 her self-released debut trio album “Entry” with Obed Calvaire and Ambrose Akinmusire was listed in Artforum magazine as one of Vijay Iyer’s top ten of 2009. Her second album “Initial Here” released on Greenleaf Records in 2012 features a quartet with Dayna Stephens on tenor sax, Fabian Almazan on piano and Rudy Royston on drums with special guest Jen Shyu on vocals. This album was mentioned several times for album of the year in various jazz polls. “Sun Pictures” is her third release – a quartet album recorded live at WKCR studios featuring Ben Wendel on tenor saxophone, James Muller on guitar and Ted Poor on drums. Her latest release in 2017 "Walk Against Wind" on Biophilia Records, received critical acclaim and was featured on the 2017 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll. This album features Ben Wendel on tenor sax, Matthew Stevens on guitar, Justin Brown on drums featuring special guests - Fabian Almazan on piano and keys as well as Minji Park on Korean percussion. She will be performing this music for the first time at the distinguished Village Vanguard in New York City. Linda is currently working on her second trumpet trio album and an eight-piece group featuring a string quartet Aventurine– with music that was commissioned by the Jazz Gallery in 2012. She was a recent recipient of the Jerome Foundation Fellowship and is now a member of Pat Metheny’s most recent quartet project which has recently recorded. Stay tuned for the new release.
In the Fall of 2016 Wolfgang Muthspiel releases an album of Quintet music for the ECM label. "Rising Grace" features Wolfgang's current trio with Larry Grenadier and Brian Blade as well as the pianist Brad Mehldau and the trumpet player Ambrose Akinmusire. wolfgang.muthspiel@facebook As internationally acclaimed guitarist / composer, Wolfgang Muthspiel is commanding attention worldwide as an artist of deep integrity, intelligence and daring musicality. A contrast of quiet charisma and elegance with dazzling technique and risk-taking musicality distinguishes a Muthspiel performance. His highly personal musical language embraces openness with a compositional structure beyond derivatives. The record label material records – which publishes both Muthspiel´s own projects and the works of other artists in jazz and classical genres – released its 29th album in spring 2010 “Life at the Jazz Standard” a Duo with his former teacher Mick Goodrick. In addition to his jazz projects, Muthspiel is active composing for contemporary classical ensembles. He received commissions from the Ensemble for New Music/Zürich, the Austrian Ministry of Arts, Klangforum Wien, the Boston-based ensemble Marimolin, violinist Beni Schmid and most recently the Austrian Esterházy foundation (Haydn Year 2009). Thanks of this wide range of activities Wolfgang Muthspiel was named Jazz Musician of the Year in Austria, 1997 and awarded the "European Jazzprize“ in 2003. Among his current projects is the Duo „Friendly Travelers“ with drummer Brian Blade, the Wolfgang Muthspiel 4tet (with the Swiss piano player Jean-Paul Brodbeck), MGT “From a Deam” with Slava Grigoryan and Ralph Towner, the „drumfree trio“ (with Larry Grenadier and Chris Cheek) as well as an ever-changing Solo Performance incorporating many different guitars and loops. The son of an amateur choirmaster, Wolfgang Muthspiel was born in the small town of Judenburg, Austria in 1965. He began studying the violin at age six, then switched to guitar at age 15. Muthspiel studied both classical and jazz guitar at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Graz, Austria. He won various national competitions for classical music as well as the International Guitar Competition in Mettmann, Germany. Muthspiel developed an interest in improvisation early on. In 1986 Muthspiel left Austria and emigrated to the United States, first settling in Boston to study at New England Conservatory with Mick Goodrick and David Leisner. Later he attended Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship, graduating "Magna Cum Laude" in 1989. At Berklee he met Gary Burton, who invited him to fill the guitar chair in the Gary Burton Quintet, left vacant since the departure of Pat Metheny 12 years earlier. From 1995 until 2002 Muthspiel lived in New York where he co-operated in a huge variety of musical projects with Rebekka Bakken, Trilok Gurtu, Brian Blade, Dhafer Youssef, Youssou N’Dour, Maria Joao, Dave Liebman, Peter Erskine, Paul Motian, Marc Johnson, Bob Berg, Gary Peacock, Don Alias, Larry Grenadier, John Patitucci, Dieter Ilg. The albums with Rebekka Bakken and his brother Christian Muthspiel were the first ones to be released on Muthspiel´s own label material records, founded in 2000. Since 2005 he is a guest professor at JazzCampus Basel, Switzerland.
Jorge Rossy
Kendrick Scott
Sara Serpa
Jorge Rossy, Barcelona 1964 (also known as Jordi Rossy ) started playing drums at age 11. Between 1980 and 1989 toured and recorded extensively with most musicians in the spanish scene and some internationally acclaimed artists as Woody Shaw, kenny Wheeler, Jack Walrath, Dave Schinitter, Sal Nistico, Sean Levitt and others. www.jorgerossy.com In 1989 moved to Boston to study trumpet at Berklee College of Music. In Boston Jordi became the drummer of choice for many of his peers and joined Danilo Perez trio for some gigs in Panama, France, Boston and New York, then joined Paquito D’rivera sextet for 2 years and moved to Ny City in 1991. In Ny Jordi played in the early recordings of many of his Boston friends like Mark Turner, Chris Cheek, Seamus Blake, Kurt Rosenwinkel and some other musicians then living in the city like Brad Mehldau, Ethan Iverson, Reid Anderson, Avishai Cohen, Joe Martin, Freddie Bryant Jordi also worked and recorded with Joshua Redman, Bill McHenry, Bruce Barth, Mike Kanan, Ben Monder, Nat Su, Steve Wilson, Mark Johnson, Larry Grenadier, Ben Street, to mention a few In 1995 started touring around the world and recording extensively with the Brad Mehldau trio for 10 years . During this time also toured and recorded with The Bloom Daddies an electric high voltage band lead by Chris Cheek and Seamus Blake, with Jesse Murphy on bass and a two drummer team with Jordi and Dan Reiser or later with Tony Mason. Also in 2000 moved back to Barcelona to raise a family and to start focusing on piano. in the las 10 years Jordi has been playing and recording on piano with some bands like Jordi Matas Quintet or Joe Smith septet and several projects with Guillermo Klein, including a performance at Merkin Hall in NYC and the Library of Congress Auditorium in Washington DC. Since 2006 Jordi has recorded is first album as a leader ¨Wicca¨ in trio with Albert Sanz on Hammond organ and RJ Miller on drums and also his second outing ¨IVLIANVS Suite¨ with the same rhythm section plus Chris Cheek on sax and Felix Rossy ( Jordi’s son ) on trumpet. Jordi’s band has been touring around Spain, the east coast of USA, Marroco, Italy and also performed in 2010 in Basel Switzerland. But during this time Jorge has also been busy playing drums occasionally with Lee Konitz and Ethan Iverson quartet, Charlie Haden’s Quartet West and Land of the Sun Septet, Carla Bley’s Liberation Orchestra, Joe Lovano’s Quartet Europa, Kurt Rosenwinkel quintet, Seamus Blake Quartet, trio 2000 with Chick Corea and NHOP and another trio with Brad Mehldau and Charlie Haden. More recently played with Wayne Shorter Quartet in European Tour 2012.
Kendrick Scott was born in Houston, Texas and grew up in a family of musicians. By age 8 he had taken up the drums and he later attended Houston?s renowned High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, a school which has produced an impressive array of musical talent including Scott?s label mates Jason Moran and Robert Glasper, as well pop star Beyonc? and many others. kendrickscott.com While still attending HSPVA, Scott won several DownBeatMagazine student awards, as well as the Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Award from the International Association of Jazz Educators. He was later awarded a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music, where he majored in music education. Scott has toured with Herbie Hancock, Charles Lloyd, The Crusaders, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Kurt Elling, and Terence Blanchard, also appearing on several of the trumpeter’s Blue Note albums including Flow (2005), A Tale Of God’s Will (2007), and Magnetic (2013). Kendrick has released three albums as a bandleader including two previous album with Oracle: The Source (2007) and Conviction (2013). Scott is a member of the Blue Note Records 75thAnniversary all-star band that includes Ambrose Akinmusire, Robert Glasper, Derrick Hodge, Lionel Loueke and Marcus Strickland.
A native from Lisboa, Portuguese Sara Serpa is a singer, composer, improviser, who through her practice and performance, explores the use of the voice as an instrument. saraserpa.com Serpa has been working in the field of jazz, improvised and experimental music, since moving to New York in 2008. Literature, film, visual arts, nature and history inspire Serpa in the creative process and development of her music. Described by the New York Times as “a singer of silvery poise and cosmopolitan outlook,” and by the JazzTimes magazine as “a master of wordless landscapes,” Serpa started her recording and performing career with jazz luminaries such as Grammy-nominated pianist, Danilo Perez, Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow pianist, Ran Blake, and Greg Osby. Her ethereal music draws from a broad variety of inspirations including literature, film, visual arts as well as history and nature. As a leader, she has produced and released ten albums, the latest being Intimate Strangers (2021) and Recognition (2020). Recognition is a singular multi-disciplinary work that traces the historical legacy of Portuguese colonialism in Africa through moving image and sound, Recognition features Zeena Parkins (harp), Mark Turner (saxophone) and David Virelles (piano). Intimate Strangers, is a collaboration with Nigerian writer Emmanuel Iduma, an interdisciplinary musical performance that portrays the writer’s travels in several African countries, featuring Sofía Rei, Aubrey Johnson(voice), Matt Mitchell (piano) and Qasim Naqvi (modular synth). Serpa was voted 2020 NPR Jazz Vocalist, Rising Star-Female Vocalist 2019 by the Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll, and teaches at The New School and New Jersey City University. Currently Serpa is Artist-In-Residence at Park Avenue Armory, in New York and a recipient of New York City Women’s Fund 2020, Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant 2019, New Music USA 2019 Grant, 2021 USArtists Grant from Mid-Atlantic Foundation for the Arts, and 2021 Herb Alpert/Ragdale Prize in Composition. Serpa has been active in gender equity in music and is the co-founder (along with fellow musician Jen Shyu) of Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M³), an organization created to empower and elevate women and non-binary musicians. Serpa has collaborated with an extensive array of musicians including Ingrid Laubrock, Erik Friedlander, John Zorn, Nicole Mitchell, André Matos, Okkyung Lee, Guillermo Klein, Linda May Han Oh, Kris Davis, Okkyung Lee, Sofía Rei, Chris Tordini, Caroline Davis, Angelica Sanchez, Thomas Morgan, Dan Weiss, Jacob Sacks, Malika Zarra, Erica Lindsay, Matt Mitchell, Zeena Parkins, Mark Turner, David Virelles, Tyshawn Sorey, Leo Genovese, Ben Street, Adam Cruz, Demian Cabaud, Fabian Almazan, Aya Nishina, Ashley Fure, Andreia Pinto Correia, Derek Bermel, Joseph C. Phillips Jr., among many others. She has performed her own music in Europe, Australia, North and South America, singing at international festivals such as Bergamo Jazz Festival, Festa do Jazz, the Panama Jazz Festival, Festival de Jazz de Montevideo, Wangaratta Jazz Festival, Adelaide Festival, Sopot Jazz Festival or venues like Bimhuis, Casa da Música, Village Vanguard, Jazz Standard, The Stone, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center, the Met Breuer, and the Kennedy Center for the Arts, among others.
Becca Stevens
Cuong Vu
Miguel Zenón
North Carolina bred, Brooklyn based singer/composer/multi-instrumentalist Becca Stevens has already received copious praise from the likes of The New York Times, describing her as "a best-kept secret" and "impressively absorbing." www.beccastevens.com Drawing upon elements of pop, indie-rock, jazz, and traditional Appalachian folk, Stevens has been hailed for her unique ability to craft exquisite compositions both for her own band, and for artists who run the gamut of genre from the legendary David Crosby, to singer José James to classical pianist Timo Andres. Stevens has toured the world with her band and collaborated with the likes of: Brad Mehldau, Esperanza Spalding, Billy Childs, Ambrose Akinmusire, Jacob Collier, Vijay Iyer and many others. In April 2015, Perfect Animal, the highly anticipated follow up to Weightless (Sunnyside), produced by engineer Scott Solter was released on Universal Music Classics. Becca's music is featured on the latest Snarky Puppy Family Dinner Vol 2 Becca will release her new album Regina in March 2017 Featuring Laura Mvula, Jacob Collier, David Crosby and produced by Troy Miller (Gregory Porter, Laura Mvula,Amy Winehouse) and Co produced by Michael League of Snarky Puppy. Regina is a tribute to strong women and figures in literature, history and legend as well as her personal life (Ophelia, Venus, Elizabeth I, her Grandmother); various songs inspired by the regal and divine nature surrounding that word as well as Regina as a voice, like a trusted friend or an alter ego. Becca uses Regina as a muse or alter ego to write in a new way fearlessly mixing genres, pop, folk, rock, Jazz funk and much more! The innovative Japanese designer Koshiro Ebata (Lady Gaga, Dior, Louis Vuitton) designs the look for her album and videos. This is the first album under Becca Stevens rather than Becca Stevens Band and marks a clear new direction in cementing her career as one of the most important, authentic and talented singer songwriters of a generation.
Cuong Vu is widely recognized by jazz critics as a leader of a generation of innovative musicians. A truly unique musical voice, Cuong has lent his trumpet playing to a wide range of artists such as Pat Metheny, Laurie Anderson, and David Bowie. www.cuongvu.com As a youngster, Cuong's intense dedication and love for music led him to a full scholarship at the New England Conservatory of Music where he received his Bachelor of Music in Jazz studies with a distinction in performance. Transitioning from his studies in Boston, he moved to New York in 1994 and began his career actively leading various groups while touring extensively throughout the world. As a leader, Cuong has released eight recordings, each making critics’ lists of the 10 best recordings of their respective years and has received rave reviews from notable publications such as the New York Times, The New Yorker, Harper’s, the Guardian, BBC Music Magazine, JazzTimes and Downbeat. Each record displays how he has carved out a distinctive sonic territory as a trumpet player, blurring all stylistic borders while developing his own compositional aesthetic and sound world. A recipient of the 2 Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album as a member of the Pat Metheny Group, Vu has garnered internationally acclaim, having been recognized as one of the top 50 Jazz Artists in an article called “The New Masters” from the British magazine, “Classic CD” and has been named the Best International Jazz Artist by the Italian Jazz Critics’ Society. Amazon listed Vu’s “Come Play With Me” on their “The 100 Greatest Jazz Albums of All Time.” Each of his recordings as a leader have been placed on esteemed jazz critics’ Best Of/Top Ten releases of the year. Most recently Cuong received Europe’s Echo Jazz 2017 Awards, International Instrumentalist for his work on his recording, “Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny”. ?Currently a professor and the chair of Jazz Studies at the University of Washington, Cuong is also a "Yamaha Performing Artist", playing the Yamaha Custom YTR8310Z trumpet.
Multiple Grammy Nominee and Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow Miguel Zenón represents a select group of musicians who have masterfully balanced and blended the often contradictory poles of innovation and tradition. Widely considered as one of the most groundbreaking and influential saxophonists of his generation, he has also developed a unique voice as a composer and as a conceptualist, concentrating his efforts on perfecting a fine mix between Latin American Folkloric Music and Jazz. miguelzenon.com Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Zenón has released ten recordings as a leader, including the Grammy Nominated Típico (2017) and Identitites Are Changeable (2014). As a sideman he has worked with jazz luminaries such as The SFJAZZ Collective, Charlie Haden, Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner, David Sánchez, Danilo Perez, The Village Vanguard Orchestra, Guillermo Klein & Los Guachos, The Jeff Ballard Trio, Antonio Sanchez, David Gilmore, Paoli Mejias, Brian Lynch, Jason Lindner, Miles Okazaki, Ray Barreto, Andy Montañez, Jerry Gonzalez & The Fort Apache Band, The Mingus Big Band, Bobby Hutcherson and Steve Coleman. Zenón has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe and The Chicago Tribune as well as gracing the cover of Downbeat Magazine on two occasions (2010 and 2014). In addition, he topped both the Jazz Artist of the Year and Alto Saxophonist categories on the 2014 Jazz Times Critics Poll and was selected as 2015 Alto Saxophonist of the Year by the Jazz Journalist Association. As a composer he has been commissioned by SFJAZZ, The New York State Council for the Arts, Chamber Music America, Logan Center for The Arts, The Hyde Park Jazz Festival, The John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, MIT, Jazz Reach, Peak Performances, PRISM Quartet and many of his peers. Zenón has given hundreds of lectures and master classes at institutions all over the world, and is a permanent faculty member at New England Conservatory of Music. In 2011 he founded Caravana Cultural, a program which presents free-of-charge Jazz concerts in rural areas of Puerto Rico. In April 2008 Zenón received a fellowship from the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Later that year he was one of 25 distinguished individuals chosen to receive the coveted MacArthur Fellowship, also known as the “Genius Grant”.