It was such a treat to have visiting jazz artist, Chris Crenshaw, here on campus last week. Chris plays jazz with the Lincoln Center Orchestra based out of New York City.  He is the former student of our band director, Issac Leverett. With funding made possible by the Brookstone Parents Association, Issac was able to invite Chris to Brookstone to share and showcase his amazing talent! Throughout his time here, he met with students in our band and music classes to demonstrate some pretty incredible trombone and piano playing! Enjoy these clips!

Chris’ bio from the Lincoln Center website…

Chris Crenshaw was born in Thomson, Georgia on December 20, 1982. Since birth, he has been driven by and surrounded by music. When he started playing piano at age three, his teachers and fellow students noticed his aptitude for the instrument. This love for piano led to his first gig with Echoes of Joy, his father Casper’s group. He picked up the trombone at 11 and hasn’t put it down since. He graduated from Thomson High School in 2001 and received his bachelor’s degree with honors in jazz performance from Valdosta State University in 2005. He was awarded Most Outstanding Student in the VSU Music Department and College of Arts. In 2007 Crenshaw received his Master’s degree in Jazz Studies from The Juilliard School where his teachers included Dr. Douglas Farwell and Wycliffe Gordon. He has worked with Gerard Wilson, Jiggs Whigham, Carl Allen, Marc Cary, Wessell Anderson, Cassandra Wilson, Eric Reed, and many more. In 2006 Crenshaw joined the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and in 2012 he composed God’s Trombones,” a spiritually focused work which was premiered by the orchestra at Jazz at Lincoln Center.