Steve Treseler is a Seattle-based saxophonist, composer, teaching artist, and author who performs and leads improvisation workshops throughout North America and Europe. DownBeat calls his music “beautifully crafted ensemble pieces—whether free, through-composed, or somewhere in between.” A "firebrand of the tenor saxophone" (Earshot Jazz), his music has been featured in the New York Times, DownBeat, and on NPR’s Jazz Night in America. Steve is the founder of Infinite Improvisation, offering educational workshops, instructional books, and digital media.
Treseler grew up in Edmonds, WA, his youth shaped by immersion in 90s grunge and classic jazz recordings. He began playing clarinet in fifth-grade, picking up saxophone in middle school to join the jazz band. He began composing and recording original music in high school and performed up and down the West Coast with a youth trad jazz band. At 18, he moved to Boston to pursue his studies on scholarship at New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with jazz legends Jerry Bergonzi, Bob Brookmeyer, George Garzone, and Steve Lacy. Steve graduated with a distinction in performance and was named "Outstanding Jazz Soloist" in the DownBeat student music awards. He holds a Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies and Improvised Music from the University of Washington as a teaching assistant for avant-garde trumpeter Cuong Vu.
Steve at Egan's Ballard Jam House, photo by Ziggy Spiz
Steve leads his own ensembles and is part of several ongoing collaborative projects. He and renowned trumpeter Ingrid Jensen are co-leaders of the album Invisible Sounds: For Kenny Wheeler on Whirlwind Recordings, which was named one of DownBeat's best albums of 2019 and featured in the New York Times and on NPR's Jazz Night in America. Steve's latest EP Snow Line Suite presents a portrait of North America's mountain ranges from the inside out. Paul Rauch of Earshot jazz says, "Imagined in a variety of soundscapes, grooves, and melodies, the music unravels like an epic poem." Steve is deeply embedded into the Northwest jazz and creative music scene where he performs with The Jim Knapp Orchestra, Johnaye Kendrick Quintet, Tom Varner’s Nonet, Scrambler Soundpainting Ensemble, Wayne Horvitz’s Washington Composers Orchestra, Jessika Smith’s Big Band, and Conner Eisenmenger's Think Tank.
Creative music education is an integral part of Steve’s ongoing work. In addition to Infinite Improvisation programs, he is on faculty at Seattle JazzED and the Pacific Music Institue in Honolulu. His is the author of Amazon bestseller Creativity Triggers for Musicians, The Living Jazz Tradition: A Creative Guide to Improvisation and Harmony, and the Creative Music Blog. He has presented clinics at Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, JEN, WMEA, Più Piano in Bavaria, Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, Hawaii Saxophone Foundation, and California Jazz Conservatory.
Steve is a Conn-Selmer endorsing artist.
Contact Steve at steve@stevetres.com