About this event
Saxophonist, Flutist, and Educator Sharel Cassity is prominent on the New York and Chicago jazz scenes. Voted the 2023 "Rising Star Alto Saxophone" and having a cover feature in Downbeat Magazine, Sharel has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and The Colbert Show; she is in the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award. Sharel has worked with Multi-Grammy Award-winning artist Jennifer Hudson, Top 40 hit singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, Aretha Franklin, Vanessa Williams, Trisha Yearwood, Ruben Blades, & DJ Logic, among others. An avid jazz artist, Sharel has performed with NEA Jazz Masters Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jimmy Heath, and Gary Bartz; she has also appeared as a featured soloist with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. As a bandleader, Sharel's five albums as a leader have received top-rated reviews in publications like the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, JazzTimes, Jazziz, American Indian News, & earned cover stories in Saxophone Journal and Downbeat Magazine. Cassity's collaborations have led her to co-lead recent releases by groups Altoizm, Precarious Towers, and her upcoming 2024 female collaboration, Alliance. An advocate for Jazz Education, Cassity established the non-profit educational program "Jazz Up!" which brings jazz professionals to students in the suburbs who cannot go to hear live Jazz or play in combo settings. Cassity is a jazz professor in the Chicago area at DePaul University & Elgin Community College. A skilled and versatile sideman, Sharel is a current Dizzy Gillespie Latin Experience and All-Star Big Band member. She has also performed frequently alongside renowned Grammy-winning artists Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, Lewis Nash, Joe Chambers, Michael Dease, & Darcy James Argue. Sharel has toured 24 countries and performed at leading venues like the Newport Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Chicago Jazz Festival, & the North Sea Jazz Festival. Additionally, Sharel was lead alto in the Diva Jazz Orchestra from 2007-2014 and performed in Wynton Marsalis' Broadway musical After Midnight.
Artists
Venue
Jazz Showcase
806 S. Plymouth Ct. · Chicago · IL