Traverser Saxophone Quartet

Bios

Jonathan Brink is currently a Visiting Lecturer teaching saxophone at West Virginia University, is active as a performer and educator in jazz and classical genres.  Jonathan has appeared in numerous recitals, concerts and clinics in jazz and classical settings in the United States and Europe.  As a jazz player, Mr. Brink has had the pleasure of backing fine musicians such as John Scofield, Clark Terry, Jeff Hamilton and the Clayton Brothers, and as a classical saxophonist he has performed numerous solo and chamber recitals, sharing a stage with very well respected musicians like Joseph Wytko, Curtis Johnson and David Hastings.  He holds a B.A. in Music from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point where he studied saxophone with David Hastings and composition with Charles Rochester Young and an M.M. in Saxophone Performance from West Virginia University where he studied with jazz and classical saxophone with Curtis Johnson.  Mr. Brink has held recent positions teaching woodwinds at Fairmont State University and Frostburg State University.

Curtis Johnson, Associate Professor of Music at West Virginia University, has been on the WVU faculty for seventeen years. He received his Master of Music degree in saxophone performance from West Virginia University and his Bachelor of Music Degree from West Liberty State College. Mr. Johnson's career continues to expand as performer, soloist, clinician, adjudicator, and conductor. Mr. Johnson has been the conductor of numerous All-County and All-CityJazz Ensembles as well as the Maryland All State Jazz Ensemble.  Mr. Johnson has performed with hundreds of performers such as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin,  The
Temptations, Lou Rawles, The Spinners, B. J. Thomas, Tony Orlando and Dawn, and Dionne Warwick. He has been recorded on over 30 CD's including jazz, blues, rock, and R & B.  Mr. Johnson has performed as soloist with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra and worked as arranger and performer with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra and substitute for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed on and produced numerous radio and television commercials, and film scores. In 1999, Mr. Johnson and his band, The Real Silk Band, released their first CD entitled Metamorphosis. The Real Silk Band was named the 1999 winner of the Harry S. Schwalb Award as Pittsburgh's best jazz band and the 2000 and 2001 radio station WAMO award for best jazz performance. He is currently a member of the hugely popular "No Bad JuJu" R & B band working on their 2nd CD release.  His Creative Music Solutions enterprise, specializing in sponsored musical group tours around the world, will begin sponsoring High School and College Jazz Ensemble tours to Europe beginning the summer of 2006.  Mr. Johnson is an Artist/Clinician for the Yamaha Corporation of America.  Associate Professor of Music at West Virginia University, has been on the WVU faculty for fifteen years.  He received his Master of Music degree in saxophone performance from West Virginia University and his Bachelor of Music Degree from West Liberty State College.  Mr. Johnson's career continues to expand into wider regions as performer, soloist, clinician, adjudicator, and conductor.  Mr. Johnson has been the conductor of numerous All-County and All-City Jazz Ensembles as well as the Maryland All-State Jazz Ensemble.  Mr. Johnson has performed for or has been in the opening act for such performers as Ray Charles, Little Anthony, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Jeffrey Osborne, Wynton Marsalis, Chicago, The Temptations, Blood, Sweat, and Tears, and Hall and Oates.  He has performed as soloist with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra and worked as arranger and performer with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra and substitute for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.  He has also performed on and produced numerous radio and television commercials, compact disc recordings, and film scores.  In 1999, Mr. Johnson and his band, The Real Silk Band, released their first CD entitled Metamorphosis.  The Real Silk Band was named the 1999 winner of the Harry S. Schwalb Award as Pittsburgh's best jazz band and the 2000 and 2001 radio station WAMO award for best jazz performance.  Mr. Johnson is an Artist/Clinician for the Yamaha Corporation of America Instrument Company.

Michael Sakash, Assistant Professor of Instrumental Music at Washington & Jefferson College, is an active performer and educator with experience in jazz and classical genres. He holds a masters degree from the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY, and bachelors degrees in music education, jazz studies, and classical saxophone performance from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has studied the classical saxophone repertoire with Lynn Klock, improvisation with Yusef Lateef, woodwinds with Dr. Ramon Ricker, and composition and arranging with Fred Sturm. As a saxophonist Michael Sakash has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic, the Erie Symphony, and recently performed the Glazounov Concerto with the Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra. As a jazz saxophonist he has backed up performers such as Dave Holland, Kenny Wheeler, and Eliane Elias. He regularly performs with many of Pittsburgh's top jazz musicians.

David Wright, has gained international recognition as a performer of both classical and jazz saxophone giving concerts and master classes throughout the United States, Central America, South America, Europe, and Asia.  As a classical saxophonist, David has performed with some of the best regional orchestras in the United States and has given recitals and master classes at the China International Clarinet/Saxophone Festival in Changchun, China, the National Conservatory in Lima, Peru, the Victoriano Lopez School of Music in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the World Saxophone Congress XIII, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, along with many other major colleges and universities around the world.  As a commercial artist, David has performed with acts such as The Temptations, The Four Tops, Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons, Mary Wilson, The O’Jays, The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Regis Philbin, Dave Samuels, Byron Stripling, Bobby Senabria,, Jiggs Wiggham, Steve Houghton, and Ray Anderson.  David Wright is an endorsing Artist/Clinician for C.G. Conn-Selmer, Inc., and has been on the faculty at West Virginia Wesleyan College since 2000.  He holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the State University of New York, College at Fredonia where he studied with Laurence Wyman, and the degrees of Master of Music Education and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Southern Mississippi where he studied with Lawrence Gwozdz.

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