Gregg August

Bassist and composer Gregg August spans the classical, avant-garde, jazz and Latin jazz worlds making him one of the most versatile musicians on the scene today. Formerly the Principal Bass of La Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona and the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Gregg plays regularly with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s and American Composers Orchestra. As a jazz bassist he’s a member of the JD Allen Trio, having recorded 9 albums with the group, as well as Arturo O’farrill’s Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, with whom he’s won 5 Grammy awards. Gregg has also performed and/or recorded with The New York Philharmonic, Steve Reich, The Bang on a Can All Stars, Alarm Will Sound, as well as Ornette Coleman, Chick Corea, Branford Marsalis and Ray Barretto. As a composer, Gregg has written many full length concert works, including “Una Rumba Sinfonica”, a commission from the Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute and Earshot, which was premiered by the Buffalo Philharmonic. Other pieces include “Oriente” commissioned and premiered by the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and “Dialogues on Race, a commission from the Jerome Foundation and The Jazz Gallery. In 2003 Gregg formed his own record label, Iacuessa Records, for which he has recorded three critically acclaimed albums of entirely original music: Four by Six ( 2012), One Peace (2007) and Late August (Iacuessa Records 2005). Gregg is on faculty at New York University and the University of Connecticut, as well as the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASSMoCA in North Adams, MA. Gregg was on the Downbeat Magazine Critics’ Rising Star Poll in 2017, 2015 and 2013. He received his degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School.