Ellen Rowe on Balancing Craft and Creativity in Your Compositions

Pianist and composer Ellen Rowe explores how to balance artistry and technique in composition, focusing on using your skill set to realize your artistic vision for a piece, using her arrangement of Thelonious Monk’s ‘Round Midnight’. Visit https://JazzComposersPresent.com to watch full-length livestreams.

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Ellen Rowe, jazz pianist and composer, is currently the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan. Ms. Rowe has released five CDs as a leader including her most recent, “Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion”. Her “Momentum” octet was featured at the JEN Conference in 2022 and at Dizzy’s Club in March of 2023. Her compositions and arrangements are published by Kendor Music (now Excelsia), Doug Beach Music, Brava Publishing and Sierra Music Publishing and have been performed by the Village Vanguard Orchestra, BBC Jazz Orchestra, U.S. Navy Commodores, Berlin and NDR Radio Jazz Orchestras, DIVA and the Perth Jazz Orchestra. She has received commissions from the Westchester Jazz Orchestra, Detroit Jazz Festival Orchestra, Minnesota, Illinois and Florida Music Educators, Fred Sturm Commissioning Project, and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra. Ms. Rowe has been awarded residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the Ucross Foundation.

Website: https://www.ellenrowe.com
YouTube:    / @ellenrowe688  
Facebook:   / ellenrowemusic  
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AUDIO CREDITS

Intro: “Chance Encounter”, composed by Daniel Jamieson. Performed by Danjam Orchestra, on the album “Sudden Appearance” (2011) OA2 Records. http://danjam.ca/

Example 1 & Closing: “‘Round Midnight”, composed by Thelonious Monk, arranged by Ellen Rowe. Performed by the Eastman Jazz Ensemble.