Roxy Cross

Roxy Coss has become one of the most unique and innovative saxophonists of her generation, and a definitional voice of the Millennial Movement in Jazz. The 2015 & 2014 Downbeat Critics??? Poll named Roxy a "Rising Star" on Soprano Saxophone. Originally from Seattle, and now a fixture on the New York scene, she has performed extensively around the world.

In January 2016, Coss will release her sophomore recording, Restless Idealism (Origin Records), the follow up to her self-titled debut, Roxy Coss (2010). The album features 10 original compositions played by her band, The Roxy Coss Quintet. As a leader, Coss has performed at many of New York???s top venues, such as Smalls, Zinc Bar, and SMOKE Jazz Club. At SMOKE, the band was in weekly residence from 2012-2013. This summer, she also headlined at the famous Jazz Showcase in Chicago, and was a featured act at the 2015 Ballard Music Festival in Seattle, WA.

As a side-woman, Coss has performed with Jazz greats such as Clark Terry, Louis Hayes, and Claudio Roditi. She is in rotation with the Mingus Big Band, a current member of The Diva Jazz Orchestra, and was a member of The Jeremy Pelt Group for three years. Coss is the Tenor Saxophonist for Maurice Hines??? Tappin Thru Life, which will premier in New York at New World Stages in January 2016.

Roxy graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2008 from William Paterson University with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies/Performance. She studied saxophone with Rich Perry and Gary Smulyan, and composition with Rich DeRosa. In 2011, she was chosen to participate in both the prestigious Jazz Ahead Residency Workshop at the Kennedy Center, and the acclaimed Steans Institute Jazz Program at Ravinia.

As a composer, Roxy was commissioned by Seattle artist Mary Coss to create the 7-minute soundtrack entitled Eternal, for an exhibition at Method Gallery (Traces, 2015). Roxy was also commissioned by the Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company to write the score for Breaking, a one-man 12-minute dance piece (2009), as well as Tribe, a full-length dance show choreographed on commission by the Holocaust Museum of New York City (2010).