A native of Connecticut, Jimmy Greene is one of the most respected saxophonists of his generation. His most recent recording, As We Are Now, was released on July 25, 2025. His 2014 release, Beautiful Life (Mack Avenue), garnered two Grammy® Award nominations: one for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and one for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals for Greene’s song “When I Come Home.” Greene has performed selections from the album on CBS This Morning, NBC’s The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, and the nationally syndicated Meredith Vieira Show. His other releases as a leader, While Looking Up (Mack Avenue), Flowers: Beautiful Life, Vol. 2 (Mack Avenue), Live at Smalls (SmallsLive), Mission Statement (RazDaz/Sunnyside), The Overcomers Suite (NuJazz), Gifts and Givers (Criss Cross), True Life Stories (Criss Cross), Forever (Criss Cross), Brand New World (RCA Victor), Live at Birdland (RCA Victor) and Introducing Jimmy Greene (Criss Cross) were also met with much critical acclaim. In fact, Tony Hall of Jazzwise Magazine (UK) calls Greene “ . . .without doubt one of the most striking young tenors of recent years.”
The Jimmy Greene Quartet/Quintet performs in concert venues, festivals and clubs worldwide, including the Village Vanguard, Smoke and Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola in New York, the Alexanderplatz Jazz Club (Rome, Italy), Sunside Jazz Club (Paris, France), Newport Jazz Festival (USA), Detroit International Jazz Festival (USA), Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival (USA), Red Sea Jazz Festival (Israel), Lapataia Jazz Festival (Uruguay) and Amazonas Jazz Festival (Brazil). In one such appearance, Jim Macnie of the Village Voice said, “[Greene] is good for a couple of body chills every time you see him. He’s got a big barrelhouse sound, and a way of negotiating changes that make academic moves seem natural.”
In addition to his recordings and appearances as a leader, Greene appears on over 100 albums as a sideman and is a member of legendary bassist Ron Carter’s Foursight Quartet. He has also toured and/or recorded in the bands of Horace Silver, Tom Harrell, Freddie Hubbard, Harry Connick, Jr., Avishai Cohen, Kenny Barron, Lewis Nash, Steve Turre, Dee Dee Bridgewater and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, among many others. As a member of Harrell’s quintet, Greene was featured on CBS’s benchmark news magazine, 60 Minutes. As a member of Harry Connick Jr.’s Big Band, Greene is a featured soloist on 2 DVD releases, Harry for the Holidays, and Only You. He was featured as a soloist on Connick’s 2003 holiday special aired on NBC, in addition to NBC’s Today Show, and BBC’s Parkinson Show.
As a composer, Greene was awarded the prestigious 2005 ASCAP / IAJE Commission in honor of Ornette Coleman. Greene is the 2013 recipient of the State of Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award in Music as well as the 2012 recipient of the City of Hartford’s Innovator Award in Music. Greene was twice named a winner of Chamber Music America’s New Works: Creation and Presentation grant for jazz composition - in 2004 and again in 2023, awarded a 2005 Artist Fellowship in Music Composition by the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, and awarded a 2009 Individual Artist Grant by the Greater Hartford Arts Council. Seventy of Greene’s original compositions and arrangements have been recorded on the Mack Avenue, RCA Victor, SmallsLive, Criss Cross, NuJazz and RazDaz / Sunnyside labels. In addition, Greene’s performance of his composition “Mr. McLean” was aired throughout the US and Canada on ABC-TV during a NASCAR pre-race broadcast in September 2007.
Greene was the winner of the 66th annual DownBeat Magazine International Critics Poll in the “Rising Star – Soprano Saxophone” category. As a youngster, he was named First Runner-Up in the 1996 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Jazz Saxophone Competition.
A dedicated educator, Jimmy Greene is Professor of Music and Co-Coordinator of Jazz Studies at Western Connecticut State University and was awarded a 2013 Outstanding Faculty Award for his efforts. Prior to his WCSU appointment, Greene taught at the University of Manitoba, SUNY Purchase and the Hartt School. Dr. Greene has given clinics and master classes throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Brazil, Israel and Russia. Three of his former students have been named semi-finalists in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition and 18 student musicians and small ensembles under Greene’s direction have won DownBeat Magazine Student Music Awards.
Also a passionate arts advocate, Greene has partnered with the Arts Consulting Group on several projects nationwide, served on the Connecticut Arts Council and on the board of the Connecticut Arts Council Foundation. Prior to those appointments, Greene served on the Hartt School Board of Regents. To honor his late daughter Ana Grace Márquez-Greene and support the work of his wife Nelba, Greene serves on the board member of the 501(c)3 charitable foundation, in his daughter’s name, The Ana Grace Project. The Greene family also established the Ana Márquez-Greene Music Scholarship at Western Connecticut State University. Each year, deserving young musicians are offered the award in Ana’s name to help offset the cost of college tuition.
Greene is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music’s Doctor of Musical Arts program in Jazz Arts and received the Helen Cohn Award for outstanding D.M.A. graduate. During his time at MSM, he was named a Jazz Arts Fellow and was awarded the Clement Meadmore Scholarship. Greene earned a Master of Music degree in music education from Boston University and a Bachelor of Music degree in African-American Music Studies from The Hartt School. Greene’s primary mentors have included Jackie McLean, Jim McNeely, Garry Dial, Justin DiCioccio, David Liebman, Phil Markowitz, Dave Santoro, Kris Jensen, Steve Davis, Ken Radnofsky and Janet Arms.
JAZZ BAND PERSONNEL
KING PHILIP JAZZ BAND
Nathan Edwards, director
FLUTE
Robinson Gilbert
Aaliya Lal
Madeline Baumgart
SAXOPHONE
Jayden Zheng
Ellie Jarrett
Joel Shamshtein
Gabe Thraen
Viv Hine
Krish Pandya*
TRUMPET
Gywneth O’Brian
Leo Cocco
Jack Hugil
Gabe Massey
Olivia Chen
Andy Zhou
Julia McClure
Gabe Ayers
Adarsh Tolat*
Hayes Rieger*
TROMBONE
Jocelyn Esposito
Ben Gentile
Julia Gusy
Jack Healy
Joriel Miranda Emanuelli
Aman Ragini-Chandra
PIANO
Zach Levy
Oliver Robb
Ava Xiong
Julia Wickless*
BASS
Colin Willcuts
Brielle Worrell
GUITAR
Eytan Bitton
A.J. Salerno
DRUMS
Enzo Cocco
Nicholas Komitov-Ku
*Hall HS Jazz Band student coaches/musicians
BRISTOW BIG BAND
Jesus Cortes Sanchez, director
FLUTE
Kaylin Li
Maeve Valentine
SAXOPHONE
Jason Hao
Eli Raub
Scarlet Frankel
Cameron Bezler
Violet Peters
Brayden Shved
TRUMPET
Nicolas Block
Jack Stolfi
Bowden Swales
Fallyn Shved
Sophie Barnes*
TROMBONE
Daniel Pereira
Virginia Eikel
Gogo Oteka
Violetta Romero
Anya Mantripragada*
PIANO
Lia Varilla
BASS
Adan Hertz-Velazquez*
DRUMS
Scott Lewis
Lucca Altieri
Justin Carter
*Hall HS Jazz Band student coaches/musicians
HALL HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ ENSEMBLE
Phil Giampietro and Michael Baril, co-directors
SAXOPHONE
Cayla Covici
Barak Goldberg
Benjamin McKain
Divya Mene
Maximo Reckert
John Sanchez
TRUMPET
Charles Burke
David Cistulli
Luke Cosentino
Daniel Dylan
Aaron Shamshtein
TROMBONE
Jacob Cohen
Daniel Godel
Rishi Radhakrishnan
Lily Sabino
Matthew Samuel
PIANO
Rachel Schoenfeld
Ella Yu
GUITAR
Jaslynn Ravenberg
Kailai Yang
BASS
Adan Hertz-Velazquez
DRUMS
Lukas Papadimitrakopoulos
Ethan Williams
HALL HIGH SCHOOL CONCERT JAZZ BAND
Phil Giampietro, director
FLUTE
Molly Chien
Lea Feingold
SAXOPHONE
Pearse Deveney
Quinn Knox
Ann-Yee Lim
Krish Pandya
Hadley Smith
TRUMPET
Sophie Barnes
Casey Pyrro
Evan Riddle
Hayes Rieger
Adarsh Tolat
TROMBONE
Richard Hao
Benjamin Kornbluh
Anya Mantripragada
Ari Pincus
Ari Stambler
PIANO
Julia Wickless
BASS
Myles Berman
Max Einstein
DRUMS
Nathan Ben Ari
Chauncey Housum
SPECIAL THANKS:
Sarah Isaacs, Hall High School principal
Andy Mayo and Mary Mackey, WHPS Music
Joe Bernard and the Hall High School custodial team
West Hartford Public Schools Administration and the Board of Education
Eina Reiger and the Hall HS Band Boosters for their assistance and support throughout the planning of this event
Our middle school colleagues, Nathan Edwards and Jesus Cortes Sanchez, for being wonderful teammates for this concert and beyond!
Catherine Hopkins, Hall HS Theatre director, and her amazing students for their help with lights and sound
Haig Shahverdian, for his work with the Concert Jazz Band
