About Miguel Zenón:

The saxophonist and composer has released four recordings as a leader. His debut CD “Looking Forward,” was selected by the New York Times as the number one independent jazz record of 2002. In 2004, after being one of the first artists signed to Marsalis Music, he released the critically acclaimed “Ceremonial.” This same year also marked the beginning of three consecutive years on the top of the Downbeat Critic’s Poll in the “Rising Star” Alto Sax category. In 2005 Zenón was honored by Billboard magazine as one of the “Faces to Watch-- 30 Under 30: Top Young Acts and Executives.” That year Zenón also released “Jibaro,” a tribute to the  "Musica Jibara" of  Puerto Rico and commissioned by a grant from the New York State Council of the Arts. Like his previous recordings, “Jibaro” was uniformly well received and appeared on many top ten lists including The New York Times, Latin Beat, El Nuevo Dia, and The Chicago Tribune.  In 2006, the readers of Jazz Times Magazine voted him the Best New Artist of the Year. “Awake,” his fourth recording as a leader, was released in April 2008. It was chosen as one of the Best Jazz Cd's of 2008 by Jazz.com, Jazz Improv Magazine, Cuadernos de Jazz, JazzTimes, and El Nuevo Dia, among others.

“This young musician and composer is at once reestablishing the artistic, cultural, and social tradition of jazz while creating an entirely new jazz language for the 21st century.”

--MacArthur Foundation, 2008

Biography courtesy of miguelzenon.com

Biography:

Dustin May is junior jazz performance major at Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music. Dustin was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio and migrated to Youngstown to pursue his degree. In Columbus, Dustin performed with all major ensembles at Westerville North High School including Wind Ensemble, Marching Band, Percussion Ensemble, the Notables show choir, Jazz Orchestra, musical pit orchestras, and many others. In his senior year, he studied music under Jeff McCargish at the Fort Hayes Career Center. There he performed at many local functions supporting the school and community.  This same year he was the drummer for the Columbus Youth Jazz Orchestra (CYJO) under the direction of Todd Stoll. The CYJO performed monthly at the historic Southern Thearte in downtown Columbus, where they opened for the Columbus Jazz Orchestra. In summer of 2010 Todd Stoll organized an all-star college big band which traveled to Parma, Italy where they performed at the Parma Jazz Festival. The group got to perform next to many world-class musicians such as the Marcus Roberts Trio, The Woody Herman band, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Wess Anderson, and many more.

At Dana, Dustin has studied with Glenn Schaft, Nate Douds, Dave Morgan, and Kent Engelhardt. He has performed with the Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, Jazz combo, and Jazz Ensemble. Dustin performs around the region with many artists including Teddy Pantelas, Clifford Barnes, Nate Douds, Sam Blakeslee, Chris Coles, Theron Brown, Tim Wilderoder, and Dave Lynn. He also teaches in the area, maintaining a large studio at the Niles Music Center.

Dustin would like to extend his sincere thanks to the ensemble: Theron Brown, Chris Coles, Dave Morgan, his instructors: Glenn Schaft, Nate Douds, Kent Engelhardt, Dave Morgan, and especially his family and friends.