Institute Faculty 2025
Former Institute faculty members can be seen here.
Todd Coolman - Artistic Director, Bass & Combo Leader
Grammy award-winning bassist Todd Coolman has performed and/or recorded with a virtual, “Who’s who” of jazz artists including Horace Silver, Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, Benny Golson, Ahmad Jamal, Art Farmer, Jay Jay Johnson, The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, and The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, among others. He enjoyed a 25-year stint with the James Moody Quartet and continues to perform with Jon Faddis, Charles McPherson, Renee Rosnes, as well as leading his own small groups. His recordings include Collectables with his trio Trifecta (Bill Cunliffe and Dennis Mackrel), Our Delight, Perfect Strangers, and 4B, the last recording of James Moody and winner of the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. Coolman holds a Ph.D. from New York University and is the author of two books, The Bass Tradition and The BottomLine. He is Professor Emeritus at SUNY Purchase where he Directed the Jazz Studies Program for ten years and has been a Professor at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (his Alma mater). Recent projects include e-blog “Tales from the Road–A Jazz Musician’s Diary” and “The Cool Toddcast”–Jazz Interviews with notable musicians and contributors to the industry. Coolman has been with SJI since 1998.
Bill Cunliffe – Piano & Combo Leader
Pianist, composer and Grammy Award-winning arranger Bill Cunliffe has worked with
legends including Buddy Rich, Frank Sinatra, Ray Brown, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard
and Art Farmer. He currently performs with his trio; his big band; his Latin band,
ImaginaciĂłn; and his classical-jazz ensemble, Trimotif. Recent releases include his
trio album River Edge, New Jersey, and his Overture, Waltz and Rondo for jazz piano, trumpet and orchestra, which won Cunliffe his fifth Grammy nomination
for Best Instrumental Composition. Cunliffe is a jazz studies professor at Cal State
Fullerton. He received his master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music and was
the 1989 winner of the Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition.
- Trombone & Combo Leader
One of today’s leading improvisers on the trombone, Davis’ lyrical, hard-swinging
style first gained him broad recognition during the 1990’s while working with the
bands of Art Blakey, Jackie McLean, Chick Corea’s Origin and the cooperative sextet,
One For All. He has appeared in Downbeat Magazine’s Reader’s and Critic’s Polls and
was nominated by The JJA four years in a row as Trombonist of the Year. Recent recordings
include For Real and Gettin’ It Done (Positone). He graduated from The Hartt School (Jackie McLean Institute—University
of Hartford, CT). McLean helped Davis land his first major gig with Art Blakey in
NYC in 1989. In 1991 Davis joined McLean’s sextet and began teaching alongside his
mentor at the Artist’s Collective and the Hartt School of Music where he remains on
the faculty. As a leader, he frequently performs with Larry Willis, Mike DiRubbo,
David Bryant, Dezron Douglas, Eric McPherson, and continues to perform with One For
All (Eric Alexander, Jim Rotondi, David Hazeltine, John Webber and Joe Farnsworth).
Davis is in demand as a sideman, has been featured on over 100 recordings and has
also played with the Larry Willis’ Quintet, Freddie Hubbard and The New Jazz Composers
Octet, Slide Hampton and The Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Star Big Band, The Jimmy Heath
Big Band, Ron Carter Big Band, Cecil Payne, Horace Silver and Wynton Marsalis’ Lincoln
Center Jazz Orchestra.
- Saxophone & Combo Leader
Connecticut native Jimmy Greene is a saxophonist, composer, and educator. He has released
12 solo recordings to critical acclaim, including While Looking Up. Greene’s two previous albums celebrated the life of his 6-year old daughter, Anna
Marquez-Green, whose life was tragically taken at Sandy Hook Elementary. His 2016
album Beautiful Life garnered two Grammy nominations. Greene graduated from the Hartt School, received
a master’s in music education from Boston University, and his doctorate degree in
jazz arts at the Manhattan School of Music. In addition to his recordings and appearances
as a leader, Greene appears on over 100 albums as a sideman, and has toured and/or
recorded with a number of jazz greats. Greene is an associate professor of music and
co-coordinator of jazz studies at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury,
Connecticut.
Russell Haight - Saxophone
A Saratoga Springs local, Russell Haight is a saxophonist, composer, and educator
specializing in jazz theory and improvisation. Haight received his Doctorate from
the University of Texas and taught and performed regularly at Texas State University
for 12 years. He has also performed and presented at the International Saxophone Symposium,
North American Saxophone Alliance, Jazz Education Network, and Texas Music Educators
Association conferences. He released his first album as a leader, Destination, in
2017, winning a silver medal at the Global Music Awards. In 2021, he earned a Grammy
nomination with blues artist Ruthie Foster for her album “Live at the Paramount.”
Haight published Odd-Meter Etudes for Saxophone in 2019, and currently serves as jazz
coordinator and associate professor at Skidmore College. He is a former Jazz Institute
student.
Bob Halek - Drums, Combo & Administration
Bob Halek is a much sought-after drummer, percussionist, educator, clinician and conductor.
Performing jazz, pop, rock, soul, big band, orchestral, concert and opera music, he
has shared the stage with many exceptional regional and national musicians. Halek
was named Teacher of the Year in the East Greenbush School District where he spent
many years teaching instrumental music. He is currently an adjunct professor at Schenectady
County Community College and Skidmore College.
- Trombone & Combo Leader
Sara Jacovino is a New York City-based trombonist, composer and arranger. In addition to leading her own quartet, she has played with ensembles including the Diva Jazz Orchestra, the Birdland Big Band, Band of Bones, David Berger and The Sultans of Swing, and the Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. She has also performed with Michael Feinstein, Steve Davis, Adele and Aretha Franklin among others. Jacovino is an established musician on Broadway, and her credits include Tina, The Tina Turner Musical, King Kong and Elf, in addition to other production and television appearances. She has multiple recordings with the University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band and with the Grammy-winning ensemble Snarky Puppy. She has been a featured artist and commissioned composer at the International Women in Brass Conference. Jacovino earned her Bachelors and Masters in Music from the University of North Texas and is a frequent guest artist and clinician.
– Trumpet & Combo Leader
Clay Jenkins' career as a performer began when he joined the Stan Kenton Orchestra
in 1977. He moved to Los Angeles and soon after joined the The Buddy Rich Big Band
and then The Count Basie Orchestra. He became a charter member of The Clayton/Hamilton
Jazz Orchestra (CHJO) along with the great Snooky Young. He has 8 solo recordings
and has recorded with Joe LaBarbera, Milt Jackson, Steve Houghton, Diana Krall, Kim
Richmond, Billy Harper, “Trio East,” Lyle Mays, Peter Erskine, Gene Bertoncini, Rufus
Reid, Ray Brown, Kurt Elling, Bob Sheppard, Jim Widner, John LaBarbera, Pat LaBarbera
and Miki Coltrane among others. He has performed on 3 Grammy Nominated Albums including
The Alan Ferber Big Band, The Dave Slonaker Jazz Orchestra and Chuck Owens’ Surge
Big Band. Jenkins is a Professor of Jazz Trumpet at The Eastman School of Music and
maintains a busy performing schedule.
– Drums & Combo Leader
Mackrel got his start playing in the Count Basie Orchestra in 1983, and would be the last drummer hired by Mr. Basie personally. Since then has played with an impressive list of ensembles, including the Village Vanguard Orchestra, Carla Bley Very Large Band, Slide Hampton and the Jazz Masters, the Hank Jones Trio, Manhattan Symphony Jazz Orchestra, Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, and the American Jazz Orchestra. Mackrel’s compositions have been recorded and performed internationally, most notably by the McCoy Tyner Band, who’s Grammy-Award-winning CDs The Turning Point (Verve Records, 1992) and Journey (Verve Records, 1993) included Mackrel's arrangements. He has also played with a host of other musicians that include Monty Alexander, Tony Bennett, Quincy Jones, Hank Jones and Sir George Shearing. In 2010 Mackrel returned to the Count Basie Orchestra and served as the ensemble’s leader and chief conductor until 2013. From 2015 to 2020 he was the chief conductor of the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Holland. In 2019, the orchestra was awarded the prestigious "Edison Award" for their double CD "Crossroads". Mackrel is also currently a professor at Queens College.
Frank Moscowitz – Audio Engineering/Producing
Frank Moscowitz is a veteran of the Capitol District music scene with nearly 3 decades
of experience in recording, live sound, and performance across multiple genres. As
Technical Director of the Zankel Music Center, Moscowitz is responsible for everything
from day to day logistics to making sure the show goes on. At the Skidmore Jazz Institute,
he brings these skills and experience to the Ladd Concert Hall in the form of live
sound reinforcement and livestream mixing, while in the Grossman Recording Studio
he guides the proceedings there with an experienced ear, and is an encyclopedic resource
for students with any questions about the recording process.
George Muscatello - Guitar
Guitarist George Muscatello, who is a Manhattan School of music alumnus, has been
an adjunct lecturer at Skidmore College for the past 18 years and has hosted master
classes at the college with jazz musicians who are in the forefront of today’s jazz
world. Muscatello, who has been an active performer for 30 years and has played/worked
alongside world-renowned musicians, has an extraordinary ability to tell the story
of a song through his guitar and “create a tiny, hermetically sealed world of sound
and sensation.” (Downbeat Magazine). His most recent album, Into Another Land, is a collaboration with acclaimed Israeli-born jazz vocalist Shiri Zorn and Brazilian
percussion master Mauricio Zottarelli.
- Trumpet & Combo Leader
Grammy Award-winning trumpeter/composer, Michael Rodriguez was inspired to pursue
music by his father, drummer Roberto Rodriguez. He studied at the New World School
of the Arts, the University of Miami and received his B.A. from the New School University.
He has performed and toured with Clark Terry, Joe Lovano, Carla Bley, The Clayton
Brothers, Kenny Barron, Harry Connick Jr., Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and with the
Chico O’Farrill, Maria Schneider, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center Orchestras among
others. He received Grammy Awards for performances on Charlie Haden’s Land of the Sun (2003) and Chick Corea’s Antidote (2020). His latest recording is Pathways, and he and his brother pianist Robert Rodriguez have five albums together. Rodriguez
is currently a member of the SFJazz Collective, and he teaches at New York University
and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
- Saxophone & Combo Leader
Recent winner of “Baritone Saxophonist of the Year” at the 2020 Jazz Journalist Associations
Awards, Lauren Sevian is a Grammy Award-winning baritone saxophonist. Sevian moved
to New York City in 1997 to attend the Manhattan School of Music and began touring
with groups such as Diva and the Artie Shaw Orchestra. She frequently performs with
her own groups, the LSAT, and her all female collective “Lioness.” She has also performed
with Alexa Tarantino, The Mingus Big Band, Steely Dan, Veronica Swift, and the Count
Basie Orchestra among others. In 2023, she won a Grammy Award for Best Big Band Album
with Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra. Sevian has released two albums: Blueprint (2009), which won a SESAC jazz award for national performance activity, and Bliss (2018). She teaches privately, is a frequent guest artist at schools and jazz festivals
across the country, and currently is an associate professor of Woodwinds at the Berklee
College of Music.
- Guitar & Combo Leader
Gary Giddins of the Village Voice calls guitarist Dave Stryker "one of the most distinctive guitarists to come along in recent years.” Stryker has 31 CD’s as a leader and is known as a featured sideman with Stanley
Turrentine and Jack McDuff. Hot House magazine awarded him Best Guitarist Fans Decision
for 2017 and he was once again voted as one of the top Jazz Guitarists in the 2019
Downbeat Critics and Readers Polls. His most recent CD Eight Track III hIt #1 for 6 weeks on the JazzWeek Radio chart, and was chosen as one of the top
CD’s of 2019 by Downbeat Magazine. Stryker grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, moved to New
York City in 1980, and joined organist Jack McDuff’s group soon after. He has also
performed with Freddie Hubbard, James Moody, Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Smith, Dr. Lonnie
Smith, and many others. He is the author of Dave Stryker’s Jazz Guitar Improvisation Method (Mel Bay Publishing). Stryker is an Adjunct Professor at Jacobs School of Music at
Indiana University, John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, and
Rutgers University.
Sam Torres – Audio Engineering/Producing
Sam Torres is an upstate New York-based musician and audio engineer. He has credits
on recordings released on American and European labels, Billboard Classical Top 10
charting tracks, and has traveled North America working with contemporary classical
music ensembles as a FOH engineer, spatial audio specialist, and live electronics
performer. Since 2020, Torres has focused primarily on mastering work and also serves
as the Assistant Technical Director and Recording Engineer at Skidmore College. He
is a former Skidmore Jazz Institute student.
David Wong - Bass & Combo Leader
Bassist David Wong graduated from The Juilliard School in classical music and subsequently
studied with Orin O’Brien and Ron Carter. He is currently a member of Roy Haynes’
Fountain of Youth band, the Charles McPherson Quintet, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
and Cécile McLorin Salvant’s Ogresse orchestra. Wong was the bassist with The Heath
Brothers Quartet led by Jimmy Heath and Albert “Tootie” Heath for 12 years, and was
also the last bass player in Hank Jones' Great Jazz Trio and is featured on the piano
master's last recording. He was a member of the Benny Green Trio and regularly performs
with Bill Charlap, Terell Stafford, Aaron Diehl, Helen Sung and Dan Nimmer. He has
appeared on over 80 recordings and, in 2023, received a Grammy Award with Best New
Artist Samara Joy for the album, Linger Awhile. Wong is on the faculty at Purchase College Conservatory, William Paterson University,
and City College of New York. He is a Skidmore Jazz Institute alumnus.
Administration
Brian Carucci – Director
Brian Carucci is a band director at Shenendehowa High School where he teaches Wind
Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, instrumental lessons and is the pit orchestra director for
the High School Musical Company. He is a woodwind adjudicator the NYS School Music
Association and coordinates the annual Shen Jazz Festival with over 300 local jazz
students. He has played with Albany Pro Musica, Northern Symphonic Winds, Capital
Region Wind Ensemble, Schenectady Light Opera Company and Glens Falls Symphony and
maintains his own private teaching studio in Rexford. Carucci has served as Assistant
Conductor for the NYSSSA School of Orchestral Studies and as adjunct clarinet instructor
at Schenectady County Community College. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Music Education
and Master's degree in Music Performance from the Crane School of Music.
Donald McCormack - Program Consultant
As Dean of Special Programs at Skidmore College, Don McCormack founded the Skidmore
Jazz Institute in 1987. Under McCormack's 20-year tenure as dean, the College launched
nationally recognized programs in the arts, among them the NYS Summer Writers Institute,
Skidmore Summer Dance Workshop, Skidmore Summer Flute Institute, SITI Company Summer
Theater Workshop and the Summer SIX Art Program. A long-time advocate for arts education,
McCormack has been the inspiration and the impetus for creating artistic residencies
and scholarship funds that serve disadvantaged students. Currently he serves on the
Board of Directors at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
Drew Lammly – Assistant Director
Andrew Lammly (Drew) is a band director at Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park,
NY. He holds a master’s degree in Saxophone Performance from Arizona State University
and dual bachelor’s degrees in Music Education and Saxophone Performance, with a minor
in Jazz Studies, from the Crane School of Music. He has performed and competed nationally
as a saxophonist, earning accolades in competitions like the Fischoff Chamber Music
Competition and MTNA National Chamber Music Competition. Lammly has served as the
director of the Clarkson University Jazz Band and held teaching positions at the Crane
Youth Music Camp and Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. He frequently performs alongside
his wife, harpist Anna Lammly, and maintains a private saxophone studio in the Capital
Region.