Jazz @ Jones: The One O’Clock Lab Band®

Hailed for delivering compelling performances of innovative, eclectic programs, Brett Mitchell was named the fourth music director of the Colorado Symphony in 2016 and concluded his four-year appointment in 2021. He is currently artistic director and conductor of Oregon’s Sun River Music Festival.

Brett concluded his tenure as associate conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra in 2017. He joined the orchestra as assistant conductor in 2013 and was soon promoted, becoming the orchestra’s first associate conductor in more than three decades. In this role, he led the orchestra in many concerts each season at Severance Hall, Blossom Music Center, and on tour. He also served as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, which he led on a four-city tour of China. In 2019, he returned to Cleveland to lead subscription performances of the film An American in Paris, and in 2021, he returned to conduct the orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival.

From 2007 to 2011, Brett led more than 100 performances as assistant conductor of the Houston Symphony. He also held assistant conductor posts with the Orchestre National de France and at the Castleton Festival. In 2015, he completed a successful five-year tenure as music director of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra.

As an opera conductor, Brett has conducted nearly a dozen productions, principally during his tenure as music director of Houston’s Moores Opera Center. His repertoire spans the core works of Mozart, Verdi, and Stravinsky, as well as contemporary works.

Brett is consistently in demand as a guest conductor throughout North America, Europe, and New Zealand; and he has an affinity for mentoring talented young musicians aspiring to be professional orchestral players.

Born in Seattle in 1979, Brett holds degrees in conducting from the University of Texas and composition from Western Washington University, which selected him as its 2014 Young Alumnus of the Year. He studied at the National Conducting Institute and was selected by Kurt Masur as a recipient of the inaugural American Friends of the Mendelssohn Foundation Scholarship. Brett was also one of five recipients of the League of American Orchestras’ American Conducting Fellowship Program.

Hailing from Ulverston in Cumbria, Jess Gillam is animating the music world with her outstanding talent and infectious personality. She has been forging her own adventurous path since she shot to fame becoming the first saxophonist to reach the finals of BBC Young Musician and the youngest soloist to perform at the Last Night of the Proms.

As well as performing around the world, Jess is a presenter on TV and radio. She is youngest presenter for BBC Radio 3 with the launch of her weekly show, This Classical Life. The program is in its third year now and in 2020 won the prestigious ARIA Award for Best Specialist Music Show. She has also guest presented for BBC Radio 2 and co-hosted a miniseries for BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme. Keen to explore the creative output of her home county, Jess presented a series of Cumbrian Chats on BBC Radio Cumbria. On TV, she has presented the BBC Proms and BBC Young Musician.

Highlights of this season include a four-stop U.S. recital tour, featuring her Carnegie Hall debut; her London Symphony Orchestra debut, performing the John Adams saxophone concerto under Gianandrea Noseda; the world premieres of three saxophone concertos: Glasslands by Anna Clyne (with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra), Dani Howard’s Saxophone Concerto (commissioned by the London Chamber Orchestra), and Karl Jenkins’s Stravangaza with the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

Jess is the first saxophonist to sign exclusively to Decca Classics, and both of her albums reached No.1 in the UK Classical Music Charts. She has received a Classic BRIT Award, has been nominated for The Times Breakthrough Award, and was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021 list for Services to Music. She is founder of the Jess Gillam Ensemble—a small group of incredible musicians from a wide range of musical backgrounds—whose programming features a variety of genres.

Jess is an associate artist of the Royal Albert Hall and a European Concert Hall Organization Rising Star Artist. She is a Vandoren UK Artist and became the youngest endorsee for Yanagisawa Saxophones at age 13.

Robin Kesselman was appointed Principal Bass of the Houston Symphony Orchestra by Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada in 2014. He has performed as Guest Principal Bass with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic, travelled internationally with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic, and appeared with the National, Atlanta, and Baltimore Symphonies.

Kesselman frequently performs as a soloist and chamber musician and presents recital programs and masterclasses at the top universities across the country. He has already appeared twice as soloist with the Houston Symphony, in subscription performances of the Koussevitzky Concerto for Double Bass and Missy Mazzoli’s bass concerto Dark with Excessive Bright. Previous season highlights include Krzysztof Penderecki’s Duo Concertante during the composer’s Carnegie Hall residency in collaboration with the Curtis Institute and Bottesini’s Concerto No. 2 with the Houston Civic Symphony. Recent festival engagements include leading the bass sections of the Grand Teton, Mainly Mozart, and Arizona Musicfest festival orchestras. He has also serves as faculty for the National Youth Orchestra – USA, Curtis Institute’s Summerfest, the Richard Davis Bass Conference, and the summer residency of the Youth Philharmonic of Colombia.

Kesselman holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Southern California and an Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music. His primary teachers have included David Allen Moore, Harold Robinson, Edgar Meyer, Paul Ellison, Chris Hanulik, and Virginia Dixon.

Mark Griffith joined the Houston Symphony in 2004. Before coming to Houston, he was a member of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and the New World Symphony, performing regularly under the baton of conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. He has also performed with the Honolulu Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, and the National Repertory Orchestra.

Having grown up in Dallas, Griffith is a native Texan but received his education in various parts of the country. He did undergraduate music studies at Wheaton College outside of Chicago and earned a Master of Music from the University of Michigan. While at Wheaton, Griffith twice won the university’s concerto competition, performing marimba concertos by Paul Creston and Jorge Sarmientos. He was the recipient of the University of Michigan’s prestigious Charlie Owen Memorial Scholarship. His teachers include Alan Abel of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Salvatore Rabbio of the Detroit Symphony, Michael Udow of the Santa Fe Opera, and renowned marimba soloist Leigh Howard Stevens.

Griffith’s playing can be heard on a growing number of Houston Symphony recordings, as well as those of the New World Symphony. One particularly unique recording features a concerto for electric guitar and orchestra, performed by composer and guitar soloist Steve Mackey with the New World Symphony. In addition to percussion, Griffith is a trained pianist and organist. He and his wife Katherine are the proud parents of their son, Benjamin, and daughter, Katie.

With a unique style and sound that echoes the influences of his past, Brad Leali is one of the most notable saxophonists of current times. Brad toured and recorded with numerous jazz greats, including several years with the Harry Connick Jr. Orchestra and with the Count Basie Orchestra. He was a standing member of the Kennedy Center Honors Band and performed for President Obama’s inaugural celebration.

A critic with The New York Times has said, “Saxophonist Brad Leali was among the most soulful and exciting I’ve heard recently.” And from London’s Evening Standard: “His solos are sparkling and Cannonball Adderley influenced.”

Currently the professor of jazz saxophone at the University of North Texas College of Music, Brad continues to perform domestically and abroad, including touring with Lyle Lovett & His Large Band. He has had a long-time endorsement with Keilwerth Saxophones and D’Addario Reeds.

A world-class soloist, accomplished composer, and formidable bandleader, Grammy Award-nominated saxophonist Chris Potter has emerged as a leading light of his generation. His music showcases limitless creativity and a vibrant sense of swing, prompting critics, musicians, and fans alike to cite him as the one of the finest saxophonists today. The New Yorker calls Chris, “A tenorist who can remind you of Joe Henderson at his craftiest, he employs his considerable technique in the service of music rather than spectacle.”

With his 2019 Edition Records release, Circuits, Chris makes a return to groove, echoing music from his Underground era. Joined by keyboardist James Francies and drummer Eric Harland, Chris’s new music thrives on the band’s chemistry, blending a vibrant soundscape of electronics, melodies with unforgettable hooks, and surprising turns of phrase, all played with relentless energy.

One O’Clock Lab Band® is the premier performing ensemble of the jazz studies program. With seven Grammy Award nominations (one or more per decade since the 1970s) from a library of more than 80 critically acclaimed recordings to date, the One O’Clock is noted for its exceptional individual musicianship and tight ensemble performance. Concerts feature the wealth of compositions and arrangements from the University of North Texas Jazz Library, which contains critical big band repertoire and thousands of musical works written by current and former UNT students and faculty members. In addition, every performance now showcases music composed or arranged by both prominent and up-and-coming women musicians.

The band has toured internationally, including performances in Russia, Mexico, Switzerland, England, France, The Netherlands, Australia, Portugal, Finland, Norway, Canada, Italy, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Poland, Ireland, and Thailand. Additionally, the band has performed at major jazz festivals, including Monterey, Cork/Guinness, Montreux (the first college band to do so), Vienne, North Sea, Spoleto, Pori, and Umbria; it frequently appears at major jazz venues such as Birdland in New York City, Blues Alley in Washington, D.C., and Catalina’s in Los Angeles. Furthermore, the One O’Clock has been the featured headliner at music conferences, concerts hosted by fine arts series, and numerous colleges and high schools across the United States and abroad.

The One O’Clock Lab Band® continues to inspire new generations of musicians through unforgettable performances, stellar studio recordings, and a strong social media presence—honoring the past while forging the future.