Dennis Mitcheltree Quartet

Jazz saxophonist and composer Dennis Mitcheltree will release his 8th album as a leader, Seeing Red, Fall 2026, on the Dengor Music label. He recorded with Janelle Monáe for her 2024 Grammy nominated "Best Album of the Year", The Age Of Pleasure. Mitcheltree is a mainstay of the tenor saxophone, having been based in New York City from 1987-2007 and in Los Angeles from 2007 to the present.

Dennis has performed and recorded with masters of the jazz world: Clark Terry, Billy Taylor, George Cables, Bill Holman, Bob Moses, Jim McNeely, Howard Johnson, Gary Bartz, Kenny Werner, James Williams, Don Sickler, Charli Persip, Ronnie Matthews, Pete Yellin, Richie Cole, Bill Holman, Pete Christlieb, Doug Webb, Carl Saunders, Joe La Barbera, John Clayton, Christian Jacob and Bruce Forman along with contemporaries Uri Caine, Ingrid Jensen, Johannes Wallmann, Andy Milne and David Binney.

Mitcheltree was born and raised in Wisconsin, picking up the oboe and saxophone at age 12. He received a scholarship from Berklee College of Music where he graduated with a Magna cum Laude degree in Jazz Performance in 1987. He is the Artistic Director for the American Music Group, widely known for the INFLUENCES series presented at Carnegie Hall, and an award-winning saxophonist and composer.

A former student of Joe Viola, Billy Pierce, Jim McNeely, George Garzone and Joe Lovano, Dennis is also a renowned jazz teacher and clinician of jazz improvisation, harmony, composition and saxophone/woodwinds. He teaches privately and as a guest artist/clinician/lecturer at universities and jazz education programs worldwide.

Dennis Mitcheltree - tenor saxophone

Johannes Wallmann - piano

Jesse Crawford - bass

Bill McClellan - drums

"...the saxophonist is aggressively adventurous and most expressive...Mitcheltree evokes hearty tones from his instrument as he masterfully interweaves unexpected lines to create fascinating sound tapestries at any tempo."
Nancy Ann Lee, Jazz Times

"Mitcheltree's quartet is definitely hard-core NYC: tough sounding, aggressive, and complex. They swing hard, even at midtempo, as though all of them were percussionists, which infectiously pulls the listener into their complex conversations."
Dave McElfresh, Jazz Now