New York, NY
Pianist, composer, educator, and bandleader Mark Kross returned to the Motherland (New York
City) in 2014 after having been a vital part of the Boston jazz scene for well over thirty years.
He has studied with Jaki Byard, George Russell, Jimmy Giuffre, Fred Hersch, Joanne Brackeen,
William Thomas McKinley, and Ezra Laderman. He holds a Master of Music degree in Afro-
American Studies from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Arts in
Music from SUNY Binghamton, and is an alum of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop (with
Manny Albam and Jim McNeely). He has composed over 120 works for jazz ensembles of all
sizes and shapes, from solo piano to orchestra with chorus.
As an educator, Mark has worked with students of all ages, from elementary school through
adult, with instrumentalists and vocalists, with beginning through advanced students. Before his
departure from Massachusetts he was the Head of the Music Department at the Middlesex
School, an independent high school in Concord, MA, where he taught and was the Director of
the Jazz Program for twenty years. Mark is a Charter Member of the Jazz Education Network.
Mark and his wife, singer Louise Rogers, are the founders and directors of Jazz WaHi, Inc. - a
non-profit corporation resource providing jazz performance and education in Washington
Heights, Manhattan – producing Jazz festivals, concerts, workshops, and a weekly jam session
which has hosted several musicians of all ages and levels for over seven years.
Mark has attended and/or been in the house band in hundreds of jam sessions over the years
(Keystone Corner, San Francisco; 1369, Wally’s and Ryles, Boston; Smoke, Small’s, Cleopatra’s
Needle, NYC; Ronnie Scott’s, London; Osmoz Café, Paris; Pat’s Pub, Vancouver, etc.), so his
experience in this area is vast.
Thursday, January 5, 2023
10:00 AM – 10:50 AM US EST