Alex Dugdale is an American saxophonist and jazz performer.

Early life

Dugdale was born in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, but as an infant was adopted by American family in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington. As a child, he fell in love with tap dancing after watching

Savion Glover Savion Glover (born November 19, 1973) is an American tap dancer, actor, and choreographer. Early life The youngest of three sons, Glover was born to a white father, who left the family before he was born, and a black mother. Glover's great grand ...

on ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

''. He started taking dance lessons at the age of six with Cheryl Johnson and Anthony Peters, the Seattle based duo. In 2002, Dugdale performed on stage along with

Gregory Hines Gregory Oliver Hines (February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was an American dancer, actor, choreographer, and singer. He is one of the most celebrated tap dancers of all time. As an actor, he is best known for '' Wolfen'' (1981), '' The Cotton C ...

and at the age of 11, he joined a steel drum player in a New York City subway while visiting New York City Tap Festival. Eventually, his passion started to grow towards instrumental

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

. Since he already was an experienced

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

player, he picked up

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

, and has played that instrument ever since. Dugdale has a Master's degree in arts from the Seattle Pacific University as well as Bachelor's degree in performance from the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music (B.M ...

. He attended Roosevelt High School in

, Washington where he played clarinet and saxophone with Scott Brown and Mark Taylor.

Career

After graduation, Dugdale started working with

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...

at the Radiance Dance Theater. As a tap dancer, Dugdale had performed with

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and Port Angeles Symphony Orchestras, as well as

Rochester Philharmonic The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is an American orchestra based in the city of Rochester, New York. Its primary concert venue is the Eastman Theatre at the Eastman School of Music. History George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Company ...

and

Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra The Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra, hosted in Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington, United States, is a member-controlled orchestra founded in 1944. The orchestra performs a minimum of four subscription concerts per season, in addition to outrea ...

s. In 2010, Alex had participated at the Disney All American College in

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

. In 2012, he performed with such bands as

The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

The Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American pop and R&B singing group from Oakland, California, that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, jazz, electronic music, bebop, b ...

and

Four Tops The Four Tops are an American vocal quartet from Detroit who helped to define the city's Motown sound of the 1960s. The group's repertoire has included soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, doo-wop, jazz, and show tunes. Founded as the ...

as well as with John Legend, Dianne Walker, Chester Whitmore, Wynton Marsalis, David Meder, Najee and others. Between 2015 and 2016 he was an intern for

Centrum (Latin for ''center'') may refer to: Places In Greenland * Nuuk Centrum, a district of Nuuk, Greenland * Centrum Lake, Greenland In the Netherlands * Amsterdam-Centrum, the inner-most borough of Amsterdam, Netherlands * Rotterdam Centrum, a borou ...

. Currently he works for a band department at the Bishop Blanchet High School as well as educator and track coordinator at the Jazz Port Townsend of

Earshot Jazz Earshot Jazz is a regional jazz non-profit organization in Seattle, Washington. It brings jazz musicians and enthusiasts from the greater Seattle area and around the Pacific Northwest to create an energetic and lively jazz community that wants to k ...

from which he also got an Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Award as Emerging Artist of the Year. When he is not teaching, he is playing music with Cole Schuster, Greg Feingold, Max Holmberg, and John Hansen. During each year's holiday season, he also performs

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

's Sacred Music with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra and his own Fade Quintet band.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dugdale, ALex Living people 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American musicians American jazz saxophonists American male dancers American male jazz musicians American male saxophonists American tap dancers Eastman School of Music alumni Musicians from Seattle Seattle Pacific University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)