ABOUT ROSS STRAUSER 

Ross Strauser is a saxophonist, composer and educator who serves on the music faculties at University of South Florida and Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, FL. A Montana native, Ross earned bachelor’s degrees in instrumental performance and jazz studies from The University of Montana in 2020. He then relocated to Tampa where he earned his master’s degree in jazz performance from The University of South Florida. 

 

Ross has studied and performed with artists such as Erica von Kleist, Loren Stillman, Remy Le Boeuf, Chuck Owen, James Suggs, and Jack Wilkins. He has played and recorded with many groups around the states of Montana and Florida including The Latin Jazz Knights, George Pennington and the Odyssey, The Rod Alnord Quartet, The Ross Strauser Jazz Collective, Tonal Imagination Jazz Collective, and The Fertile Crescent. 

 

In 2022 and 2024, Ross’s original works were selected for high-profile presentations at the bi-annual International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers Symposium. He was also the winner of the David P. and Susan W. Wohlheuter Jazz Composition Contest at Ithaca College with his original work, “The Mellow Fellow and the Fly” in 2023. This work received a world premiere at Ithaca College and featured esteemed guitarist, Peter Bernstein. In 2022, Ross founded the Ross Strauser Jazz Orchestra, an 18-piece group that recorded and released its debut album, Endless Ties the following year. This year, the band will record and release its second studio album, Going to the Sun, a 15-movement suite of original works inspired by the beauty and wonder of Glacier National Park.