Yale University Bands
Thomas C. Duffy, Director presents the
Yale Jazz Ensembles Big Band
Wayne Escoffery, Music Director
Celebrating the Centennial of Miles Davis: “Miles Ahead”
Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at 7:30 pm Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall
The Yale Jazz Ensembles Big Band continues its celebration 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 “Blues for Pablo,” “Springsville,” and “The Duke” from “Miles Ahead,” Davis’s second landmark 1957 collaboration album with composer and arranger Gil Evans and regarded as one of the most famous recordings of “Third Stream,” a fusion of jazz, European classical, and world musics.
Allie Gruber - bari sax, Jared Wyetzner - trumpet, Daniel Fried - trombone, Yiannis Scotiniadis - guitar
The Duke (from “Miles Ahead”) (world premiere)
Truth Templeton - trumpet, Christopher Sylvester - alto sax, Hari Viswanathan - piano, Rohan Wassink - tenor sax
Blues for Pablo (from “Miles Ahead”) (world premiere)
Featured soloist: Wayne Escoffery - soprano sax; Other soloists: Solomon Geleta - tenor sax, Jacob Lebroda - trombone, Yiannis Scotiniadis - guitar
Springsville (from “Miles Ahead”) (world premiere)
Featured soloist: Wayne Escoffery - soprano sax
John Coltrane arr. Conrad Herwig
Dave Brubeck, arr. Gil Evans reorch. Michael Philip Mossman
Gil Evans reorch. Michael Philip Mossman
Johnny Carisi, arr. Gil Evans reorch. Michael Philip Mossman
Blue in Green Miles Davis and Bill Evans
Truth Templeton – trumpet
Christopher Sylvester – alto sax
Rohan Wassink – tenor sax
Thara Joseph – bass
Hari Viswanathan - piano
Christopher Palazzo - drums
Through the Sunbreak (world premiere)
Rohan Wassink - tenor sax, Rory Ashmeade - tenor sax, Victor Herrera- trumpet, Leo Craig - trumpet
Upcoming Yale Bands Concerts
• 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. $ Tickets: Scan code at right or visit 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). Tarot (Lindsay Bronnenkant), Gnomon (T. D. Duffy). 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
Lonnie’s Lament
Miles Zaud SY ’26
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 Ensembles 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
TrombonesW
Jacob Lebroda ES ’27
Daniel Fried TD ’26
Joshua Gabrielson TC ’28
Guitar
Yiannis Scotiniadis MY ’28
Piano
Hari Viswanathan BF ’28
Bass
Thara Joseph GH ’26
Drums
Christopher Palazzo SY ’27