Wiki: Renee Rosnes - upcScavenger

Irene Louise Rosnes (born 24 March 1962), known professionally as Renee Rosnes ( ), is a Canadian jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

Early life

Rosnes was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and grew up in North Vancouver, British Columbia. She was three when she began taking classical piano lessons. She attended Handsworth Secondary School, and became interested in jazz music there, introduced to it by the school's band director, Bob Rebagliati.

She went on to the University of Toronto, and studied classical performance with pianist William Aide. In 1985, Rosnes was awarded a Canada Council for the Arts grant, and moved to New York City to continue her studies.

Career

Shortly after arriving in New York, Rosnes became the pianist for the Blue Note Records label band, Out of the Blue, and recorded the 1989 album "Spiral Staircase" with the band. After tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson hired her to play with his quartet in 1986, Rosnes began an international career. In 1988, she was a member of the Wayne Shorter Band and in 1989, she joined trombonist J. J. Johnson's Quintet and remained his pianist of choice until he retired in 1997. In 1989, she also began working with tenor saxophonist James Moody and was the pianist in his quartet for the next 20 years. Rosnes frequently performed with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, and recorded For Sentimental Reasons with his quartet in 2007. She was a founding member of the SFJAZZ Collective, and played with the octet from 2004 through 2009. Since 2012, she has been a member of bassist Ron Carter's Foursight Band, which tours frequently in Europe.

In 2023, Rosnes won her seventh Canadian Juno Award for Solo Jazz Album of the Year for Kinds of Love Smoke Sessions Records, recorded with Chris Potter on tenor, soprano saxes and flute, Christian McBride on bass, and Carl Allen on drums and Rogerio Boccato on percussion. She made four Japanese trio recordings for the VideoArts label with The Drummonds with ex-husband Billy Drummond and the unrelated Ray Drummond on bass. She married jazz pianist Bill Charlap on 25 August 2007, and the couple released a piano duet recording titled Double Portrait (Blue Note).

Rosnes was the host of Jazz Profiles, a CBC Radio show in which she profiled Canadian jazz musicians. Guests included pianists Paul Bley, Joe Sealy and Oliver Jones, bassists Don Thompson and Michel Donato, trumpeters Guido Basso and Kenny Wheeler, and drummer Terry Clarke. With producer Kelly Peterson Rosnes is a co-founder of the Canadian Jazz Master Awards and was the artistic director of the Oscar Peterson International Jazz Festival, which took place in Ontario, Canada. Rosnes is the pianist and musical director of the all-female quintet . The other members are Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Alexa Tarantino (alto sax & reeds), Noriko Ueda (bass), Allison Miller (drums). The group signed with the Blue Note label, and their eponymously titled debut album was released on 11 September 2020.

Awards and honours

Hugh Fraser (musician)'s tribute composition Irenerosnesity was recorded by The Hugh Fraser Quintet on their album Looking Up (CBC Records 1988) and performed by them at the Montreal Jazz Festival (1988)
Juno Awards, Best Jazz Album, For the Moment (1992), Ancestors (1997), Life on Earth (2003), Written in the Rocks (2017), Kinds of Love, (2023)
Juno Awards, Best Mainstream Jazz Album, Free Trade (1995)
Juno nominations, Best Mainstream Jazz Album, As We Are Now (1998), Deep Cove (2005) (Ryga/Rosnes),
Juno nominations, Best Jazz Album, Renee Rosnes (1991), Art and Soul (2000), Beloved of the Sky (2018)
SOCAN Composer of the Year, 2003
Western Canadian Music Awards, Jazz Recording of the Year, Deep Cove by Ryga-Rosnes Quartet, (2005)
Sikh Centennial Gala Award, Sikh Foundation of Canada, 2015
Newark School of the Arts, Artistic Honoree, 2016
Oscar Peterson Award, Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, 2018

Discography

As leader/co-leader

Face to Face (Toshiba/EMI, 1989)
Renee Rosnes (Blue Note, 1990) – includes live rec. 1988
For the Moment (Blue Note, 1990)
Without Words with String Orchestra (Blue Note, 1992)
Ancestors (Blue Note, 1996)
As We Are Now (Blue Note, 1997)
Art & Soul (Blue Note, 1999)
With a Little Help from My Friends (Blue Note, 2001)
Life on Earth (Blue Note, 2001)
Renee Rosnes and the Danish Radio Big Band with DR Big Band (Blue Note, 2003) – rec. 2001
Deep Cove (CBC, 2004)
A Time for Love (Video Arts, 2005)
Black Narcissus: A Tribute to Joe Henderson (Pony Canyon/M&I, 2009)
Double Portrait with Bill Charlap (Blue Note, 2010) – rec. 2009
Manhattan Rain (Pony Canyon, 2012)
Written in the Rocks (Smoke Sessions, 2016) – rec. 2015
Beloved of the Sky (Smoke Sessions, 2018) Renee Rosnes, Beloved of the Sky. Review by Alex Henderson, NYCJR, April 2018 – Issue 192, page 15. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
Ice on the Hudson: Songs by Renee Rosnes & David Hajdu with David Hajdu (SMK, 2018)
Kinds of Love (Smoke Sessions, 2021) Renee Rosnes “Kinds of Love” Available September 3 via Smoke Sessions Records

As a member

Out of the Blue

Spiral Staircase (Blue Note, 1989)

Superblue

Superblue 2 (Blue Note, 1989)

The Drummonds
With Ray Drummond and Billy Drummond

When You Wish Upon a Star (VideoArts, 1999)
Letter to Evans (VideoArts, 2000)
A Beautiful Friendship (VideoArts, 2002)
Pas de Trois (True Life Jazz, 2002)
Once Upon a Summertime (VideoArts, 2003)

SFJAZZ Collective

Inaugural Season Live 2004 (SFJAZZ, 2004)3CD
Live 2005: 2nd Annual Concert Tour – The Works of John Coltrane (SFJAZZ, 2005)2CD
Live 2006: 3rd Annual Concert Tour – The Music of Herbie Hancock (SFJAZZ, 2006)2CD
Live 2007: 4th Annual Concert Tour – The Works of Thelonious Monk (SFJAZZ, 2007)2CD
Live 2008: 5th Annual Concert Tour – The Works of Wayne Shorter (SFJAZZ, 2008)3CD
Live 2009: 6th Annual Concert Tour – The Music of McCoy Tyner (SFJAZZ, 2009)2CD

Artemis (Blue Note, 2020)
Artemis, In Real Time (Blue Note, 2023)Blue Note Records: ARTEMIS "IN REAL TIME" – Blue Note Records, accessdate: 23 May 2023
Arboresque (Blue Note, 2025)