MUSE • Musicians United for Social Equity

Biography

Sherisse comes to us from Philadelphia, PA, and is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music in 2004 with a Master’s in Jazz Composition.

In addition to a successful career as a composer, arranger, and orchestrator, she also currently maintains a well-established freelance career as an electric bassist.

As a bassist, she has made a name for herself playing on numerous Broadway and off-Broadway shows. Some of her over +20 credits include: Hairspray, Hair, Dreamgirls, Wicked, Baby It’s You, Kinky Boots, Jesus Christ Superstar, Bring it On, The Secret Life of Bees, Jersey Boys, Once on This Island, Summer “A Donna Summer Musical, Wicked (on electric), For Colored Girls, and Dreamgirls in addition to many others.

She has also played numerous shows at 54-Below, backing up such acts as Roz Ryan and Tony Award winners Bonnie Milligan and Matt Doyle

Sherisse also recently performed at the MET with Tony-Award-winning singer/songwriter Gavin Creel on his new musical entitled “Walk On Through” and has been a regular in Gavin’s band for the past two years.

Sherisse is also a 12+ award-winning composer/arranger/orchestrator and is currently a Professor of Jazz Composition and Arranging at the Manhattan School of Music

As a composer, and at a relatively young age, she had already become well-recognized in the field of jazz composition.

She received the 2001 “Best Arrangement” award from The American Society of Musicians Composers and Arrangers for her orchestral arrangement of “Here’s That Rainy Day”.

Sherisse later went on to win some of the most prestigious awards in her field.

She was awarded the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award in 2003, 2005, and 2007.

As the 2004 winner of the ASCAP/IAJE Emerging Composer Award in honor of Count Basie, she had already proven herself to be such.

In 2005, she was awarded the BMI Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Award for her piece “A Slippery Slope “and was given the Manny Albam Memorial Commission for the following year, where she premiered her large jazz ensemble piece “I Stand Corrected”.

In 2006, she received the Herb Albert Foundation/IAJE Gil Evans Fellowship. In 2007, she also received the 2007 Meet the Composer Van Lier Fellowship.

In 2008, She was awarded the Best Composition award by the Thelonious Monk Institute’s annual international competition for her piece “For Ones Lost”.

A versatile composer, her styles range from jazz and classical to world music and Rhythm & Blues. She was a regular arranger and orchestrator for the world-renowned crossover orchestra “The Metropole Orchestra” based in the Netherlands from 2007-2009 and she was a featured composer and clinician in Stockholm, Sweden at the Royal Conservatory of Music and with the HR Big Band in Germany.

In 2007, she was also the featured artist at the Jazz Cologne 07’ jazz festival, where her compositions were performed by the “Cologne Contemporary Jazz Orchestra.”

In addition to receiving high school and college commissions, she has also written or arranged music for Dave Liebman and Peter Erskine. Her works are published by the recognized jazz music publisher Walrus Music and her music is in the libraries of numerous high schools and universities throughout the United States.

In 2005, her big band “Project Uprising” released their first recording entitled Sleight of Hand, which received a rare 4.5-star review (out of 5) in Downbeat Magazine. The CD features respected jazz saxophonist and composer Dave Liebman, in addition to other special guests.

Her big band has appeared numerous times at The Jazz Gallery in New York City since 2004.

During her time at the Manhattan School of Music, she studied with Michael Abene.

Some of her other teachers have included Jim McNeely, Dave Liebman, and Matt Harris.

Notable recordings:
With The HR Big Band (2009): https://www.reverbnation.com/sherisserogers
My Big Band Project Uprising 2005:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/sleight-of-hand/155758287

Notable Articles:
https://greenleafmusic.com/sherisse-rogers-wins-the-monk-composition-competition/
https://jazztimes.com/archives/sherisse-rogers-project-upbringing-sleight-of-hand/