Jazz Articles about Sharel Cassity

About Sharel Cassity

Album Review

Picture this: Having assembled a supporting cast, finalized the playlist and booked a studio, you are ready to make the debut recording as leader of your own ensemble, only to learn that, hours earlier, said studio in East Lansing, Michigan, had been devastated by a tornado. That is exactly what happened to trombonist Eli Howell in May 2025. Fortunately, thanks to some quick thinking and deft maneuvering by album producer Michael Dease and others, a room was found at Howell's ...

Album Review

Altin Sencalar: Natural Rhythm

Read "Natural Rhythm" reviewed by Andrew Schinder

by Andrew Schinder
May 28, 2026

Rising trombonist Altin Sencalar has positioned himself at the top of a new generation of trombone virtuosos. The trombone may not have the widespread popularity of its brass brethren, but is nevertheless a deeply compelling and versatile instrument. Sencalar has, over the past decade, proven himself as one of the instrument's finest practitioners. Having studied with, and then worked for, trombone star Michael Dease, he combines deep respect for the instrument's legacy with a raw need to muscle it into a ...

Album Review

Markus Rutz: Many Moons

Read "Many Moons" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
December 12, 2025

Chicago-based trumpeter Markus Rutz traverses a largely straightforward path on Many Moons, the ninth recording as leader of his own ensembles--on this occasion, his Third Coast Sounds, a sturdy sextet with slightly shifting personnel. Tenor saxophonist Brice Winston shares the front line on five of the album's eleven engaging tracks, alto Sharel Cassity on four, with saxophonist and album producer Greg Ward sitting in on the colorful finale, “Time to Spare," which he also composed. Rutz wrote half ...

Album Review

Markus Rutz: Many Moons

Read "Many Moons" reviewed by Ken Hohman

by Ken Hohman
November 24, 2025

Orson Welles once quipped, “I'm not such a fool as to not take the moon seriously." Journeyman Chicago trumpeter Markus Rutz takes this sentiment to heart with his fine recording, Many Moons, which finds him under the spell of our silvery satellite, leveraging it as a muse for the passage of time and a melancholy reflection of life's varied chapters. Vacillating from judiciously selected covers (Van Morrison's “Moondance"), catchy originals ("Penumbra") and jazz standards ("Blue Moon" and “Blue ...

Liner Notes

Michael Dease: Flow

by Howard Mandel
September 27, 2025

Everything comes together for Michael Dease and company on Flow, which should be no surprise but mustn't be taken for granted. The dynamic Mr. Dease, a consummate musician, sweeps his diverse crew of long-term collaborators and gifted newcomers through a confluence of songs rich in melody, rhythm and feeling. Pleasure-forward, Flow entices, refreshes, buoys and inspires. The album--Dease's 18th as a leader since 2005 and his 11th from Posi-Tone, all imbued with joyful engagement and flaunting stylistic variety--covers ...

Album Review

Michael Dease: Flow

by Dan Bilawsky
September 17, 2025

Michael Dease is always on the go. A flurry of activity seems to surround the prolific trombonist, composer, bandleader, sideman, educator, and doubler. Yet he's always operating in the moment, never distracted by all of the spinning plates. Dease absolutely personifies the flow state, fully immersing himself in every one of his pursuits. This, his 11th album for the Posi-Tone imprint and 18th in all since his 2005 debut, demonstrates that fact as well as anything. Mixing it up with ...

Interview

Sharel Cassity: In the Spirit

by Katchie Cartwright
May 19, 2025

Even on an old familiar tune like Charlie Chaplin's “Smile" (1936), it is clear from note one that Sharel Cassity is a child of Bird, an altoist in the modernist tradition of Charlie Parker. Her first influence was actually her biological father, an organist, with whom she shared the stage in New Orleans at age 11, but Cassity made the trek from central Oklahoma to the Big Apple in 2000 and remained there until 2017, earning an undergraduate degree from ...