Jazz Ensembles
Roxy Coss, Director of Jazz Studies, Assistant Professor
roxy.coss@stonybrook.eduÂ
Thomas Manuel, Endowed Artist in Residence, Instructor
thomas.manuel@stonybrook.edu
Ray Anderson, Toll Professor
ray.anderson@stonybrook.edu
ABOUT SBU JAZZ
The Stony Brook Jazz program is led by Director Roxy Coss, GRAMMY Award-winning Saxophonist,
Composer, Educator and Activist. A recipient of the Downbeat Critics Poll “Rising Star” Award, Roxy is also the President and Founder of Women
in Jazz Organization. She leads the Jazz Graduate Small Ensemble, Co-leads the Stony
Brook University Jazz Orchestra - Stony Brook’s big band, as well as teaches private
lessons for graduate students, other jazz courses TBD, and oversees the Jazz department.
Thomas Manuel, Endowed Artist in Residence Fellow at SBU and Director of the Jazz Loft in Stony Brook, is the Conductor of The SBU Jazz Orchestra, and supervises the small jazz ensembles along with talented graduate assistants, teaches private lessons for jazz trumpet students, History of Jazz, and other jazz courses TBD.
Ray Anderson, chosen five times as “Best Trombonist” in Downbeat Magazine’s Critics Poll, is former Director of Jazz at SBU, and currently the Toll Professor in Jazz, teaching private lessons and Improvisation.
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THE STONY BROOK JAZZ ORCHESTRA
(Undergrad: MUS 264 Big Band Jazz Ensemble; Grad: MUS 568 Jazz Big Band)
Rehearsals are Monday Evenings, 7PM-9:30PM
The SBU Jazz Orchestra performs a wide range of music from and in the Jazz Orchestra tradition. We will focus on developing a rich blend and sound as an ensemble, as well as engaging our individual creativity and expression inside of the group. In this course you will learn to play jazz by practicing daily on your instrument and playing in class. Harmony, melody, phrasing, rhythm and the study of the African-American roots of jazz will be included. We will be exploring the essential jazz tension between composition and improvisation.Â
The Jazz Orchestra explores literature from Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Stan Kenton, Mary Lou Williams, and Thad Jones as well as newly composed works. Each year select students from the Jazz Orchestra have the opportunity to be a part of an annual large scale project at The Staller Center. Guest artists also will work with the Jazz Orchestra. There are weekly rotating sectionals as well as a concluding concert at the end of each semester. Additional performances are TBD.
JAZZ COMBOS
(Undergrad: MUS 267 & MUS 289 Small Jazz Ensemble; Grad: MUS 597 Jazz Chamber Ensemble)
Rehearsals are generally Tuesday & Wednesday evenings, other times as needed
As much as possible, this course will be run just like a rehearsal for a band performance. We will be covering a wide range of music with an emphasis on the interplay between the group and the individual. Knowledge of the music’s history and an understanding of the African-American culture that gave birth to Jazz is essential to understanding the music. Rehearsals will include listening, discussion, as well a variety of exercises to learn improvisation and ensemble playing techniques.
BEGINNING JAZZ IMPROVISATION
(MUS 189 Intro To Jazz Improvisation)
Class Time TBD
In this course you will learn to play jazz by practicing daily on your instrument and playing in class. Harmony, melody, phrasing, rhythm and the study of the African-American roots of jazz will be included.
JAZZ AUDITIONS
Everyone must audition to participate in jazz ensembles and big band. Auditions will
be held on Tuesday, August 26th and Wednesday August 27th, 2025. Students should be
prepared to play the melody and improvise over 1 Jazz standard of their choice and
1 Blues, as well as basic scales and chords, and demonstrate sight reading.