Jesse Canterbury has played music for years in a wide variety of situations. He discovered creative music through a 1992 performance of Terry Riley’s landmark piece In C. Throughout college and graduate school (where he studied primarily physics), he performed the music of John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Pauline Oliveros, and began to improvise on a regular basis. In 2000, he moved to Seattle and began focusing on music more closely. Through a myriad of musical interests and influences, most notably and most recently the work of clarinetists William O. Smith and François Houle, he has developed a unique approach to the clarinet that includes a remarkably lyrical sound in addition to a large vocabulary of extended techniques.

Throughout his performing career, he has worked and performed with many of the luminaries of creative music, including George Lewis, Butch Morris, Derek Bailey, Walter Thompson, and Tom Varner. Jesse has appeared multiple times at festivals such as the Seattle Improvised Music Festival, Earshot Jazz's Voice and Vision Series, the Olympia Experimental Music Festival, and Seattle’s Arts-in-Nature Festival. In addition to his improvising activities, he keeps an active schedule as a chamber musician. Notable performances include the American premiere of William O. Smith’s 10x200 (with the University of Washington Contemporary Group), Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire, Oliver Messiaen’s Quatour Pour La Fin du Temps (with the Seattle New Music Ensemble) , Alban Berg’s Vier Stücke, Michael Tenzer’s Three Island Duets (with Canadian virtuoso François Houle), and many new chamber works by Pacific Northwest composers. Other performances have included music by Toru Takemitsu, Chen Yi, and Elliott Carter.

Jesse is a member of several avant-jazz ensembles: the Tom Baker Quartet, the Tom Varner Tentet, and Andrew Boscardin's Zubatto Syndicate. Additionally, he leads two groups of his own, Vertigo and the newer Crosstalk. He has recorded, with William O. Smith, an album of music for two clarinetists, featuring world-premiere recordings of several new works by Smith, in addition to commissions from François Houle and Tom Baker. He can be heard on Present Sounds Records, Capstone, Omnitone, and New World Records.

Jesse maintains an active alternate career as a scientist in the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington.

Short version:

Clarinetist Jesse Canterbury has worked in new music spanning modern classical music, improvisation, and avant-jazz.  He has performed some of the masterworks of the modern literature, such as the Quartet for the End of Time and Pierrot lunaire, and has participated in many premieres of new works by Pacific Northwest composers.  He has recorded a critically acclaimed album of music for two clarinetists in collaboration with William O. Smith, titled collage/décollage, which features several world-premiere recordings of Smith’s music, as well as commissions from Tom Baker and Canadian composer and clarinetist François Houle.   Additionally, he is a member of several “avant-jazz” ensembles, most notably the Tom Baker Quartet, the Tom Varner Tentet, and Andrew Boscardin's Zubatto Syndicate.  His most recent work can be heard on the album Vertigo, released in October 2010 on Present Sounds Records.  Canterbury is currently working on music for a new project, called Crosstalk.  He can be heard on Present Sounds, Capstone, Omnitone, and New World Records.  Jazzreview.com called him “one of the best new improvising clarinetists around.”