Jay Rattman, 25, originally from Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania maintains an active schedule as a freelance woodwind artist, creative musician, composer and arranger in and around New York City.
At an early age he was mentored by saxophone greats Phil Woods and David Liebman. He received bachelor’s degree in three years in addition to a master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Dick Oatts, Steve Slagle, Steve Wilson, Joe Temperley, David Krakauer and John Riley.
He has performed in venues as varied as Jazz @ Lincoln Center, The Blue Note, Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, The Coachella Festival, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, Smalls Jazz Club, Cornelia Street Café, the Mercury Lounge, the Bitter End, and numerous jazz venues in Pennsylvania including the Deer Head Inn and the Celebration of the Arts (COTA) jazz festival. He has also appeared on NPR’s Sound of Young America, The Late Show, and The Tonight Show.
In demand in a variety of musical settings as diverse as traditional jazz, klezmer, big band, free improvisation, creative jazz, and classical chamber music, he has performed with musicians as drastically varied as Bob Dorough, Feist, Nellie McKay, and the José Limón Dance Company. He can be heard playing bass clarinet on vibraphonist Stefon Harris’s Grammy-nominated CD, “Urbanus.” Rattman is a member of the klezmer band “Zlek” and Phil Woods’s Festival Orchestra, besides leading his own quartet, which plays members’ original music. A champion of new music, he has premiered pieces as a member of the Manhattan Saxophone Quartet by David Noon, Marc-Antonio Consoli, Jeffrey Nytch, Robert Young McMahan, Inhyun Kim, and Rex Isenberg among others. His talents have been recognized by the NFAA ARTS awards and the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Awards.
As an educator, Rattman maintains an active private studio in addition to having taught group instrumental lessons in New York City public schools, at COTA Camp Jazz, and via distance learning from Manhattan School of Music. He also presented in a teaching artists masterclass with Yo Yo Ma and his Silk Road Ensemble.