Keith Kelly is a Phoenix-based woodwind specialist and composer who works primarily in improvisation-based music. Much of his original work live somewhere between the spheres of jazz, ambient, and indie-rock. As a leader, he directs the Composers/Improvisers Big Band, the jazz-rock-noise unit Ask Not, and is regularly seen at The Lost Leaf, Phoenix’s hub of creative music. Other long-stranding ensembles include Running From Bears, Union32, and Static Announcements. Equally at home in the realm of indie music, he has recorded with EELS,
Dispatch, Califone, Michael Krassner, Casey Hurt, and Max Knouse. His recorded music is available through both Edgetone Records and his own label EX(P)HX.
Dr. Kelly holds degrees in music from the Conservatory of Music at University of the Pacific and Arizona State University. Previous collegiate teaching includes both classroom and performance coursework, and/or dissertation supervision at: Arizona State University; CSU-Stanislaus; and Boston University. Since 2012, he has served as the Coordinator of Music Humanities and Performance at Paradise Valley Community College. Dr. Keith Kelly is an Andreas Eastman Artist/Endorser.
Eric Rasmussen is a saxophonist/composer/educator who relocated to the Phoenix area in the summer of 2007 from New York City. Originally from California, I spent the previous ten years playing and teaching in New York City where I was a staple of the jazz community, performing regularly on the East Coast as well as throughout Europe. While in New York, I performed regularly with some of the most respected names in jazz and was the Director of Jazz Studies at the Center for Preparatory Studies in Music at Queens College. Earning my Masters of Music degree in Jazz Performance at the New England Conservatory in Boston, I studied with Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzone, Danilo Perez and Paul Bley. I received my BFA in Jazz Performance from California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, where I studied with Charlie Haden, Joe Labarbera and Roscoe Mitchell. In Phoenix, I lead the groups Running From Bears and the Eric Rasmussen Tristano Band, both of which have toured the United States on numerous occasions. I am an experienced educator and guest clinician with clinics at the University of Iowa, California Institute of the Arts, Wellesley College, Saddleback College and Arizona State University among others. I am also in high demand as a guest conductor and clinician as well with recent engagements at the NAU Jazz Festival, The Fort Lewis College Jazz Festival and guest conducting the Arizona All State Jazz Band.
With my own groups, I have recorded for internationally acclaimed jazz labels Steeplechase and Fresh Sound Records, and as a sideman, I have recorded with Paul Bley, Danilo Perez, Billy Hart, Christophe Schweizer and the Jazz Composers Alliance. I have been fortunate to perform at some of the most prestigious venues in the country including the Kennedy Center, and the JVC Jazz Festival at Carnegie Hall among others. I have served as adjunct faculty for Mesa Community College, Paradise Valley Community College and was the Music Director for Young Sounds of Arizona from 2010 – 2011. Currently, I am the Director of Instrumental Music and Jazz Studies at Scottsdale Community College.
