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Sharel Cassity
Saxophonist, Woodwindist, Composer & Educator Sharel Cassity (pron. Shah-Relle) is a musician on the New York, Chicago, and international jazz scenes. Listed as “Rising Star Alto Saxophone” in Downbeat Magazine for the past 11 consecutive years, Sharel has appeared on the Today Show, earned her MA from The Juilliard School under full scholarship, won the 2007 ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award & has been inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. Cassity has shared the stage with jazz luminaries including Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis & the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra; as well as mainstream artists Aretha Franklin, Natalie Merchant, Vanessa Williams & Trisha Yearwood. She has released five albums as a bandleader and appeared on over 30 as a sideman, toured 24 countries and performed at leading venues like the Newport Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival & the North Sea Jazz Festival. Relocated to the Chicago area with her husband and son, Cassity is currently a professor of saxophone and piano at Elgin Community College in Elgin, IL; Columbia College and DePaul University in Chicago, IL. Sharel is a proud Vandoren Performing Artist.
Awards
2010-2020 Rising Star Alto Saxophone—Downbeat Critics Poll
2012 Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, Legacy Tribute Award
2008 Ravinia Steans Institute Residency
2007 ASCAP Young Jazz Composer's Award
2007 Downbeat Student Music Award, Composition
2007 Downbeat Student Music Award, Jazz Combo
2006 Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Residency
2006 IAJE Sisters in Jazz
Gear
Sharel is a Vandoren performing artist and plays Vandoren reeds, mouthpieces, and ligatures exclusively.
Tags
Sharel Cassity: In the Spirit
by Katchie Cartwright
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 ...
Continue ReadingAlliance: Alliance
by Jack Bowers
Alliance is an impressive all-female co-op quartet whose self-titled debut album, recorded in 2023, offers a luminous snapshot of their remarkable talent and versatility. Reed virtuoso Sharel Cassity, an alumna of New York City's world-class DIVA Jazz Orchestra, oversees the front line, while pianist Hannah Meyer provides an eloquent reciprocal perspective and shares the essential rhythmic duties with bassist Carmani Edwards and drummer Colleen Clark. Up-and-coming trumpeter Kellin Hanas makes a guest appearance on the session's closing number, Harold Mabern's ...
Continue ReadingMichael Dease: Found in Space: The Music of Gregg Hill
by Jack Bowers
Even though all but unsung outside his customary locale, Michigan-based composer Gregg Hill has drawn into his orbit a small but well-respected circle of jazz artists including bassist Rodney Whitaker, guitarist Randy Napoleon and trombonist Michael Dease, all of whom have recorded albums dedicated to Hill's diverse and sophisticated music. Found in Space is Dease's second homage to Hill, with a third one in the planning stages. Hill's compositions, which traverse the spectrum from straight-on jazz to ...
Continue ReadingMichael Dease: Found in Space: The Music of Gregg Hill
by Paul Rauch
Leaving a legacy in this life is a subject that holds different meanings for people. For some, it involves building a structure of permanence that will stand up to the test of time after one's entrance into eternity. For others, it is more fleeting, something that can be shaped and reshaped, and if desired, completely torn down. For some it is a function of building a monument to oneself. For others, like Central Michigan composer/arranger Gregg Hill, it is a ...
Continue ReadingMichael Dease: Found in Space - The Music of Gregg Hill
by Bill Milkowski
The title itself is revealing. A clever play on words of the old '60s sci-fi show Lost in Space, it immediately suggests an irreverent wit and slightly twisted perspective; qualities that also permeate the unique music of prolific Michigan-based composer Gregg Hill. How this fairly obscure presence on the national music scene has managed to garner such a fervent following remains a mystery to those of us outside the Great Lakes State. Converts include bassist-educator Rodney Whitaker, Director ...
Continue ReadingAlliance: Alliance
by Dan Bilawsky
The eponymous debut from Alliance--a collective quartet spearheaded by saxophonist Sharel Cassity and drummer Colleen Clark, and harmonically hinged on pianist Hannah Mayer and bassist Carmani Edwards-- is a shining example of the strength behind a pact in play. A sorority built on substantial musical prowess and possibilities, this is a band that's locked and loaded for action. Mixing carefully-chosen covers with winning originals, Alliance confidently endears itself to ears across this nine-song program. Opening on Mulgrew ...
Continue ReadingPrecarious Towers: Ten Stories
by Jack Bowers
Precarious Towers is a Midwestern-based quintet whose second recording, Ten Stories, is as bare-bones an album as one could imagine: a plain CD (without name or artwork) resting in a pale-blue jacket (no tray or protective sleeve) that includes a list of songs, composers and personnel plus recording details. That's it. From a reviewer's point of view, however, such cosmetic details are irrelevant, as the only component that matters is the music itself. Judged solely on that ...
Continue ReadingSharel Cassity - Relentless (Jazz Legacy Productions)
Source:
Master of a Small House
Despite the global proliferation of jazz, New York City remains the foremost proving ground for the music's practitioners. Making it in the Apple still ostensibly means making it on the world stage. Classically trained, with diplomas from both the New School and Julliard, saxophonist Sharel Cassity's credentials are not uncommon to the caliber of player competing for gigs. Cassity's made the most of her residency by networking with a wide swathe of her peers. She convenes a cadre of their ...
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"[Cassity] plays alto and soprano with a seriously soulful tone that’s impressive enough to stop a roomful of seasoned jazz fans in their tracks" —Ken Micallef, Downbeat Magazine "With any luck, Evolve will establish her [Sharel] as a household name among jazz audiences." — Michael J. West, Jazz Times “Sharel Cassity has the potential to be one of the leaders of this genreʼs next generation” —J. Hunter, All About Jazz Sharel Cassity is another no-nonsense lady of the horn...her solos have an insurgent quality..and her deep blue alto wanes with melancholy”—Eric Fine, Downbeat Magazine “Itʼs Cassityʼs amazing alto that takes canter stage
Primary Instrument
Saxophone
Location
Chicago
Willing to teach
Beginner to advanced
Credentials/Background
Contact for details
Clinic/Workshop Information
contact for details
Cannonball Adderley
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Wayne Shorter
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John Coltrane
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Kenny Garrett
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Roy Hargrove
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Branford Marsalis
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Charlie Parker
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Maceo Parker
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Joshua Redman
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Lester Young
saxophonePhotos
Music
Denouement
From: Many MoonsBy Sharel Cassity
The Last Pop Tune
From: Found in Space: The Music of...By Sharel Cassity
Over the Rainbow
From: Manhattan RomanceBy Sharel Cassity
Videos
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