Ellen Rowe and Andrew Bishop have been playing together for 15 years, recently releasing “Chisel & Stone”, an album featuring their own compositions as well as arrangements of jazz standards. They have been featured at the North American Saxophone Alliance Conference and have toured throughout the Midwest, including concerts at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Albion College. They have also performed locally at the Kerrytown Concert House and in concert at the UM School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

Andrew Bishop is a versatile multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, scholar, and educator comfortable in many musical idioms.  He maintains an international career and serves as an Associate Professor and Chair of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  Bishop’s three recordings as a leader have received widespread acclaim from national and international journals.  As a composer and arranger, he has received numerous commissions, residencies, and awards from the ASCAP, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Andrew W. Melon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and a nomination from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He earned five degrees in music including a DMA in music composition from the University of Michigan.  A dedicated and committed teacher, Bishop was twice the recipient of the Arthur Anderson Professor of the Year Award, the Joyce G. Ferguson Faculty Development Grant for Excellence in Teaching, and the 2021 Harold Haugh Award for excellence in studio teaching.  He is a Conn-Selmer and Vandoren artist.   

Ellen Rowe, jazz pianist and composer, is currently the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan. Ms. Rowe has released five CDs as a leader four of which, “Sylvan Way”, “Denali Pass”, “Wishing Well” and “Courage Music” are available at PKO records and at CDBaby.com.  Her newest album “Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion” was released to widespread critical acclaim in January 2019 and is available at Smokin’ Sleddog Records, ellenrowe.com, CDBaby.com, Spotify and other streaming services. Her various small groups have been featured at jazz festivals around the country, as well as at colleges and universities, and her “Momentum”  band was recently selected to perform at the 2022  Jazz Education Network Conference. 

Ms. Rowe's compositions and arrangements are published by Kendor Music, Doug Beach Music and Sierra Music Publishing and have been performed by ensembles including the Village Vanguard Orchestra, BBC Jazz Orchestra, U.S. Navy Commodores, Berlin and NDR Radio Jazz Orchestras, DIVA and the Perth Jazz Orchestra.   She has received commissions from the Westchester Jazz Orchestra, Detroit Jazz Festival Orchestra, Minnesota Music Educators, Illinois Music Educators, Lawrence University’s Fred Sturm Commissioning Project and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, in addition to junior high and high school groups throughout the country. She has also been selected to conduct numerous All-State jazz ensembles, including the NafME All-Eastern and All-Northwest honors groups.