Relax Attack Jazz Series: Ashley Summers’ RAÎSON D’ÊTRE

Ashley Summers’s Raîson d’Être:
Dustin Laurenzi, tenor saxophone
Daniel Bruce, guitar
Daniel Murphy, piano
Chris Baker, drums
Ashley Summers, bass

Bassist, composer and educator Ashley Summers was born on the West Coast of Canada.  With her musical family as her earliest inspiration, she began to play double bass at the age of fifteen, and shortly after moved to Toronto, Ontario, to study with Canadian jazz luminary Don Thompson.  She later completed a Masters Degree in Jazz Performance at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where she was an Associate Instructor to jazz education legend David Baker.

Equally passionate about composition and performance, Ashley’s talents have brought her to stages all over the world.  In 2003, she represented Canada when she was selected to be a member of the Sisters In Jazz All-Star Quintet, an International Collegiate Competition sponsored by IAJE.  More recently, she has been touring venues throughout the US, from concert halls like the Kennedy Center for the Arts to Cleveland’s Nighttown and the Lilypad in Boston.  Recent performances have included special guests Aaron Goldberg, Corey Christiansen, Leo Blanco, Seamus Blake and Kenny Werner.

Aside from keeping a busy performance schedule, Ashley is also an in-demand educator.  For several years she served as director of IAJE Canada’s “Jazzmobile” project, which placed professional jazz musicians in Canadian schools to motivate, educate and inspire young musicians.  She also frequently serves as an adjudicator, guest artist and clinician at festivals and universities throughout Canada and the US, including the annual Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow, Idaho.  Ashley spends considerable time in Summer months as a faculty member for jazz intensives throughout North America and frequently works with the Archipelago Project, a non-profit music education ensemble based in Traverse City, MI.  She has also had interim faculty appointments at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Ashland University and Kent State University and recently completed a full-time visiting Jazz Studies faculty position at Morehead State University in Kentucky.

Currently based in Chicago, IL, Ashley perpetually develops her own projects and supports a variety of exciting local and international artists in jazz and other genres, both live and in the studio.  Recent album releases of note include Paul Tynan and Aaron Lington’s “Bi-Coastal Collective 3” and Bobby Selvaggio’s 2014 Origin Records release “Short Stories”, with special guest Aaron Goldberg on piano.  Her debut album, featuring saxophonist Seamus Blake, is scheduled to be released in the Fall of 2016.