Yale University Bands
Thomas C. Duffy, Director presents
Yale Jazz Ensembles Big Band
Celebrating the Centennial of Miles Davis
“Birth of the Cool”
Wayne Escoffery, Music Director
James Burton III, trombone, guest artist
Wednesday, November 5, 2025, at 7:30 pm ~ Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall
Footprints Wayne Shorter
SKJ Milt Jackson
arr. James Burton III
Budo (from “Birth of the Cool”) (premiere)
Boplicity (from “Birth of the Cool”) (premiere)
Flamenco Sketches
Truth Templeton – trumpet
Christopher Sylvester – alto sax
Hari Viswanathan – piano
Thara Joseph – bass
Christopher Palazzo – drums
Miles Davis and Bud Powell
arr. Michael Philip Mossman
Miles Davis and Gil Evans
arr. Michael Philip Mossman
Bill Evans and Miles Davis
Deception (from “Birth of the Cool”) (premiere) George Shearing
arr. Michael Philip Mossman
This year the Yale Jazz Ensembles Big Band celebrates the centennial of the birth of American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer Miles Davis (1926-1991). Tonight’s concert features world premieres of big band arrangements for the Yale Jazz Ensembles Big Band by Michael Philip Mossman, including “Boplicity,” “Budo,” and “Deception” from Davis’s pioneering album “Birth of the Cool.”
“Birth of the Cool” is a compilation album of eleven tracks recorded by Davis’s nonet for the label over the course of three sessions during 1949 and 1950. Featuring unusual instrumentation and several notable musicians, the music consists of innovative arrangements influenced by Afro-American music and classical music techniques, and marked a major development in post-bebop jazz. As the title suggests, these recordings are considered seminal in the history of “cool jazz.”
About Tonight’s Guest Artist
Trombonist, composer, arranger James Burton III has lent his sound to multiple Grammy Award-winning albums and Tony Award-winning Broadway productions. Born in Queens, now a resident of Harlem, Burton III is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of the Jackie McLean Institute at the Hartt School of Music. While earning his master’s degree and Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School, Burton held both the Morse and Gluck Fellowships and received the Schuman Prize, an award named for Juilliard’s founding president and given to one graduating master’s degree candidate annually.
Burton got his professional start playing with many of the great large ensembles; the Illinois Jacquet Big Band, the Dizzy Gillespie All Stars, the Lincoln Center and Vanguard Jazz Orchestras etc. Additionally, the opportunity to perform/record with legends Jimmy Heath, Slide Hampton, Ron Carter and Christian McBride inspired Burton to co-form a 10-piece ensemble called the Uptown Jazz Tentet, which celebrated the release of a second album in late 2020, to much critical acclaim. Currently, Burton’s playing and original compositions can be heard alongside band mates Jeremy Pelt, Wayne Escoffery and Johnathan Blake in the powerhouse ensemble, Black Art Jazz Collective. BAJC has released four albums since its inception, the latest three reaching the #1 position on the JazzWeek Charts for international radio play.
In the model of jazz education pioneer Jackie McLean, Burton is an avid educator and has been a full-time associate professor at both the Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music as well as Director of Jazz Education at New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Burton continues to pass on the legacy of the music via master classes, ensemble coaching and workshops for arts education institutions across the globe.
Wayne Escoffery is a 2014 and 2021 DownBeat Critics Poll Winner for both the Tenor and Soprano Saxophones, and a Grammy Award winning musician. He is currently one of the musical directors of The Mingus Big Band, leads his group The Wayne Escoffery Quartet, and is the founder of Black Art Jazz Collective. He is considered one of the Jazz world’s most talented saxophonists and in-demand sidemen.
Originally from London, England Wayne grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, which is where his love for Jazz and formal study of music began. As a high-school student and an undergraduate at The Hartt School, Escoffery studied under the mentorship of Saxophone legend Jackie McLean and was among the second class of students at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at The New England Conservatory which is where he received a Master’s degree in Music.
In 2006 he secured one of the most coveted gigs in jazz: a frontline position in Tom Harrell’s working quintet. For over a decade, Escoffery was mostly associated with trumpet master having toured the globe with him, recording seven CDs with The Tom Harrell Quintet and co-producing four of those releases. Escoffery has been a member of The Mingus Dynasty, Big Band and Orchestra since 2000 and has made several recordings with the group. Over the years he has recorded and performed internationally with a who’s who in Jazz including Ron Carter, Ben Riley, Abdulah Ibrahim, Eric Reed, Carl Allen, Al Foster, Billy Hart, Eddie Henderson, Rufus Reid, Wallace Roney, Randy Brecker and Herbie Hancock just to name a few.
Escoffery leads his own groups which tour internationally and has made several highly acclaimed studio recordings with said groups. His current working quartet features pianist David Kikoski, bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Mark Whitfield Jr. who has taken over for the late great Ralph Peterson Jr. The band’s most recent albums The Humble Warrior and Like Minds on the Smoke Sessions Records label have gotten rave reviews and both received 4 stars in DownBeat Magazine. Escoffery’s newest album Alone released in August of 2024 reflects on love, loss, and solitude, and features a remarkable All- Star Quartet with Gerald Clayton, Ron Carter, and Carl Allen. The stunning new album is an atmospheric and haunting mood piece that has received 5 stars in the London Times, 4 stars in Jazzwise Magazine and 4 Stars in DownBeat Magazine. Critics have called this album the best of 2024 so far and said it’s Wayne Escoffery at his finest.
Escoffery is also a founding member of a collaborative group Black Art Jazz Collective which is comprised of fellow rising star musicians of his generation and is dedicated to celebrating the origins of Jazz and African American Icons through originally composed music.
In addition to performing, Escoffery is dedicated to music education and presents lectures and masterclasses on Jazz music. He is currently the saxophone instructor for The New Jersey Performing Arts Wells Fargo Jazz for Teens program and teaches private online and in person lessons for all instruments. In the fall of 2016 Wayne Escoffery was appointed Lecturer of Jazz Improvisation and ensemble coach at the Yale School of Music and is now the director of Jazz Ensembles and Jazz Saxophone instructor as a part of Yale University’s Jazz Initiative, the first of its kind for the University. The vast array of contributions Wayne Escoffery has made to the Jazz world in such a short time leads seasoned industry professionals like Niel Tesser to write “Pay special attention to tenor man Wayne Escoffery whose rapid development - from album to album (and seemingly solo to solo) - has given us a jazz hero for the coming decade.”
Yale Jazz Ensemble Big Band 2025-2026
Wayne Escoffery, Music Director
Stephanie Hubbard, Operations and Productions Manager
Alto Saxophones
Chris Sylvester DC ’26
Solomon Geleta MC ’28
Tenor Saxophones
Rohan Wassink ES ’26
Rory Ashmeade TD ’26
Baritone Saxophone
Allie Gruber PC ’26
Trumpets
Jared Wyetzner PC ’27
Truth Templeton BF ’26
Victor Herrera SM ’28
Leo Craig BR ’28
Trombones
James Burton III, guest artist
Jacob Lebroda ES ’27
Joshua Gabrielson TC ’28
Guitar
Yiannis Scotiniadis MY ’28
Piano
Hari Viswanathan BF ’28
Bass
Thara Joseph GH ’26
Drums
Christopher Palazzo SY ’27
Upcoming Yale Bands Concerts
• Sunday, November 16 – 3:00 p.m. Yale Concert Band Fall Concert, Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Out of Darkness (Dana Wilson), featuring guest artist Ole Akahoshi, Yale School of Music Professor of Cello; A Tone Parallel to Harlem (Duke Ellington, trans. James Spinazzola), James Spinazzola, guest conductor; Symphony No. 2 (David Maslanka). Woolsey Hall. Free/no tickets required.
• Friday, December 5 – 7:30 p.m. “Side by Side: The Nutcracker Swings!” The Yale Concert Band (Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director) and the Yale Jazz Ensembles Big Band (Wayne Escoffery, Music Director) present two settings of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. With both bands seated side by side on stage, the YCB performs the traditional classical arrangement by Mayhew F. Lake, with the YJEBB answering movements with Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn’s jazzy interpretation of this holiday classic. Woolsey Hall. Tickets General Admission $15, $10 students. Scan code at right for tickets. >
• Friday, February 13 – 7:30 p.m. Yale Concert Band Winter Concert, Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Vespers by Susan Botti, with special guests the Yale Glee Club, Jeffrey Douma, Music Director. Other music TBA. Woolsey Hall. Free/no tickets required.
• Wednesday, March 4 – 7:30 p.m. Yale Jazz Ensembles Big Band Spring Concert. Wayne Escoffery, Music Director. Program TBA. Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall. Free/no tickets required.
• Wednesday, April 8 – Yale Jazz Ensembles Big Band at Dizzy’s Club, New York. Wayne Escoffery, Music Director.Two sets, 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. Info/$Tickets TBA. https://jazz.org/dizzys/
• Friday, April 10 – 7:30 p.m. Yale Concert Band, Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. The Thomas C. Duffy Annual Spring Concert. Juvenalia for Solo Percussion and Wind Ensemble (Robert Honstein), feat. guest artist Garrett Arney, percussion. Also feat. Frank Morelli, Yale School of Music Professor of Bassoon: Bassoon Concertino (Francisco Mignone). Other music TBA. Woolsey Hall. Free/no tickets required.
• Sunday, May 17 – 7:00 p.m. Yale Concert Band Annual Twilight Concert, Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director. Celebratory music and Yale songs on the eve of Yale’s Commencement. Outside on the Old Campus (chairs provided). Free/no tickets required.
Yale University Bands, P.O. Box 209048, New Haven, CT 06520-9048 phone (203) 432-4111 | stephanie.hubbard@yale.edu | https://bands.yale.edu/