Michael Dease

ABOUT

Michael Dease is one of the world’s eminent trombonists, lending his versatile sound and signature improvisations to over 200 recordings and groups as diverse as Grammy-winning artists David Sanborn, Christian McBride, Kanye West, Michel Camilo, and Alicia Keys. Born in Augusta, Georgia, he played the saxophone and trumpet before choosing the trombone at age 17. In 2001, Dease moved to New York City to become part of the historic first class of jazz students at The Juilliard School, earning both Bachelors and Masters degrees, and quickly established a reputation as a brilliant soloist, side-person, and bandleader.

Give It All You Got (Posi-Tone, 2021), Dease’s newest release, has received positive acclaim from JazzTimes Magazine and a coveted 4-star review from Downbeat Magazine. The music centers on themes of devotion to the past and future of the jazz lineage, realized at the Jazz Institute at Brevard where he serves as director. As a bandleader, this is Dease’s eighth album for Posi-Tone, fourteenth of his career, and features Gregory Tardy, Ulysses Owens, as well as his wife Gwen Dease and eldest daughter Brooklyn Dease on percussion.

Dease is the winner of Downbeat Magazine’s Critics Poll for 2021 Trombonist of the Year, the 2016 Rising Star Jazz Trombonist, and is a three-time Grammy award winner with Christian McBride and Alicia Keys. He is also a sought-after lead, section and bass trombonist with today’s leading jazz orchestras. His experiences include bands led by Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, Charles Tolliver, Rufus Reid, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band. However, it is on the frontline of small groups led by master musicians like The Heath Brothers, Winard Harper, Renee Rosnes, Bill Charlap, Claudio Roditi, and Lewis Nash, where Dease has revitalized the trombone’s image. Not content to simply improvise, Dease arranges and composes for many different bands, constantly adjusting his tone and timbre to add just the right flavor to the music.

Dease’s unique blend of curiosity, hard work and optimism has helped him earn worldwide recognition, including awards from ASCAP, The International Trombone Association, Yamaha, Eastern Trombone Workshop, New York Youth Symphony, Hot House Magazine, and Michigan State University, among others. Dease is profiled in Cicily Janus’ book, The New Face of Jazz: An Intimate Look at Today’s Living Legends (Random House). His experience in the studio has led him to produce several recording sessions for emerging artists, often composing and writing liner notes for the releases.

Dease’s singular talent has made him an effective and prolific teacher, resulting in invitations, master classes and residencies at University of North Texas, Scranton University, University of Iowa, Florida State College, Broward College, and many institutions abroad. He serves as tenured full professor of jazz trombone at the renowned Michigan State University jazz program, where he received the 2019 Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year Award and the 2018 MSU Teacher/Scholar Award. Prior to MSU, he was on faculty at Queens College – CUNY, The New School and Northeastern University. In 2015, Dease founded the Jazz Institute at Brevard at the Brevard Music Center, and he continues to direct the Institute along with the Seiko Summer Jazz Camp (Japan) while also serving as the trombone faculty at the Skidmore Summer Jazz Institute (New York).  Many of Dease’s current and former students are enjoying successful careers in the music world.

Always an informed but forward-thinking musician, Dease has taken many lessons from master musicians while primarily studying with trombone legends Wycliffe Gordon and Joseph Alessi. His associations have run the entire spectrum of musical experience: Alicia Keys, Paul Simon, Paul Schaffer and the CBS Orchestra, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Illinois Jacquet, Slide Hampton & The World Of Trombones, Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, WDR Big Band, George Gruntz, Billy Harper, and numerous others.

Michael Dease is an enthusiastic endorser and Performing Artist for Yamaha Trombones, Trumpets and Saxophones, Pickett-Blackburn brass mouthpieces, and the custom repair services of expert craftsman Scott Sweeney of Sweeney Brass in Raleigh, North Carolina. Most importantly, he enjoys spending time with his extraordinary wife and Professor of Percussion at MSU, Gwendolyn Dease, and their daughters Brooklyn and Charly.

Recordings

As bandleader:

Give It All You Got; Michael Dease (Posi-Tone Records) 2021
Never More Here; Michael Dease (Posi-Tone Records) 2019
Bonafide; Michael Dease (Posi-Tone Records) 2018
Reaching Out; Michael Dease (Posi-Tone Records) 2018
All These Hands; Michael Dease (Posi-Tone Records) 2017
Father Figure; Michael Dease (Posi-Tone Records) 2016
Let’s Get Real; Michael Dease (Spice of Life) 2015
Decisions; Michael Dease (Posi-Tone Records) 2015
Relentless; Michael Dease (Posi-Tone Records) 2014
Coming Home; Michael Dease (D Clef Records) 2013
Grace; Michael Dease (Jazz Legacy Productions) 2010
Clarity; Michael Dease (Bluesback Recods) 2008
Dease Bones; Michael Dease (Astrix) 2007
The Takeover; Dease Madsen Quintet (Independent) 2005

Selected Sideperson Appearances:

Solid Gold, OSU Jazz Orchestra feat. Michael Dease 2018
Simpatico, Claudio Roditi
As I Am, Alicia Keys
All Too Soon: Music of Duke Ellington, Rodney Whitaker
Outrospection, Rodney Whitaker
The Good Feeling, Christian McBride Big Band
Optimism, Christian McBride Big Band
The Movement Revisited, Christian McBride Big Band
Emperor March Live At The Blue Note, Charles Tolliver
Relentless, Sharel Cassity
Coexist, Winard Harper
Swingin’ Live, Illinois Jacquet
Dreams of New Orleans, Wycliffe Gordon
Fast Friends, Doug Webb