Story
Leading Band Member
Dr. Carl Atkins, Saxophonist and composer, has enjoyed a broad musical career that spans European classical music through American jazz and African drumming. He has performed and/or recorded with such major artists as George Russell, Gunther Schuller, Jaki Byard, Herb Pomeroy, Andy McGhee, Cecil McBee, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock among others. He was the founding director of the Jazz Studies program at the New England Conservatory and from 1995-1999, was Co-Director, with legendary bassist Ron Carter of the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz Performance. Currently, he is a professor Emeritus and former program chair of the Department of Fine Arts at the Rochester Instituteof Technology.