Wellesley BlueJazz
Ensemble Program

BlueJazz Big Band rehearses twice a week: Tuesdays from 4:30-6 pm, and Thursdays from 5-6:30 pm. Rehearsals take place in PNW 201. Big Band participates in FFW and presents a concert at the end of each semester.

BlueJazz Combos is comprised of small groups that meet twice per week, one hour each on Monday and Wednesday evenings. Combos participate in FFW and present a concert at the end of each semester.

Students may elect to take Big Band or Combos for 0.5 credits per year. It is not mandatory to seek credit. Students who participate in a BlueJazz ensemble during the Fall semester can register for it in the Spring with the director's approval. MUS 260 is for the first two years of participation, and MUS 270 is for the second two years of participation (prerequisite: MUS 260). Students seeking credit must participate in the ensemble all year. 

Jazz saxophonist Cercie Miller is an active jazz musician, composer, and sideman, performing with many groups and leading a quartet, The Cercie Miller Quartet (CMQ). She is a co-founding member of Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet, an avant-garde sax quartet, and was a member of Girls' Night Out, a headlining pop-rock band. Cercie has recorded with numerous artists including Patty Larkin, Didi Stewart, and Lisa Thorson, and produced two CDs with the CMQ. 

Cercie's teaching has been focused on three main areas: The first is an instrumental technique for saxophone including sound production, extended performance practices such as altissimo and overtones, and mastery of dynamics and fingerings. Secondly, the theory and pedagogy of jazz including scales, modes, chords, and harmony. She is an Associate Professor in Ear Training at Berklee College of Music. 

At Wellesley College, Cercie is the Coordinator of the Jazz & World Music Program, on the Senior Music Performance Faculty in Jazz Saxophone, and Director of the BlueJazz Big Band. 

Mark Hamilton has been the long-standing trombonist of the Klezmer Conservatory Band. The band has toured throughout Europe, Australia, and North America and made multiple audio and video recordings. He has performed in the PBS special ​“In the Fiddler’s House” and on ​"The Late Show with David Letterman” ​with violinist Itzhak Perlman and was heard on Minnesota Public Radio’s ​“A Prairie Home Companion ​with Garrison Keillor.” ​ Both an arranger and composer, he self-publishes klezmer and jazz music for young concert bands and other ensembles. Mark is also a busy freelancer, performing Latin, jazz, and pop music locally on trombone and electric bass. ​A proud graduate of the New England Conservatory and the University of Delaware, he is a founding member of the Boston area ensembles Brass Planet and ¡Klezperanto! and has been teaching low brass at Wellesley since 2017.