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Clinton Bleil

Clinton Bleil
Assistant Professor of Music, Saxophone
Commercial Music, Music (B.A. and B.M.), Music Education, Music Therapy

Clint Bleil is a composer and saxophonist from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Clint has degrees in Music Education and Saxophone Performance from Slippery Rock University, where he studied under Jason Kush. Clint recently received his master's degree in Studio Jazz Writing from the University of Miami, where he studied composition under Gary Lindsay, John Daversa, and Carlos Rafael Rivera. Clint has received numerous awards in composition and arranging, most recently winning the National Band Association Young Jazz Composers Composition Contest in 2022. He also has received a Jazz Education Network Young Composer Showcase Award in 2022, an ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award in 2021, and an International Jazz Composers SONIC Award in 2019. His music has been performed throughout the country at the Midwest Clinic, the JEN Convention, the ISJAC Conference, and more. Clint has composed, arranged, and transcribed for multiple different groups and ensembles, including the Airmen of Note, Live From Here with Chris Thile, Patrick Bartley, Bob Reynolds, Benny Benack III, and the Washington Symphony Orchestra. As a saxophonist, Clint has performed and recorded in many different styles and ensembles. He has performed with many local symphony orchestras, including the Pittsburgh and Wheeling Symphony Orchestras. He also has performed and recorded with many world renowned jazz artists and bands, including the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra, Benny Benack III, and the award-winning Frost Concert Jazz Band. In addition, Clint has performed with many rock and pop acts, such as the Temptations, Jay and the Americans, Dennis Tufano, and the Shirelles. Clint also has experience in the recording studio, where he served as an additional engineer on John Daversa’s three-time Grammy award-winning album American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom. Clint will begin his first year as Assistant Professor of Music at Seton Hill University this fall, where he will teach aural theory classes, lead the saxophone quartets and jazz ensembles, and teach lessons in jazz improvisation and advanced sound and media production. He also regularly performs in the Pittsburgh area with his quartet that focuses on modern jazz arrangements and compositions, as well as a funk/fusion group that he co-leads with his brother.

Education

  • M.M. Studio Jazz Writing, University of Miami, 2019

  • B.M. Music Education, Slippery Rock University, 2016

  • B.M. Saxophone Performance, Slippery Rock University, 2016

Awards

  • Winner of the Downbeat Student Music Award for Best Small Group Instrumental Arrangement (2019)

  • Recipient of an International Jazz Composers SONIC Award (2019)

  • Recipient of an ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award (2022)

  • Recipient of a Jazz Education Network Young Composer Showcase Award (2022)

  • Featured as part of the New Music Masterclass sessions at the 2022 International Jazz Composers' Symposium (2022)

  • Winner of the National Band Association Young Jazz Composers Composition Contest (2022)

Organizations

  • International Society of Jazz Composers and Arrangers

  • Jazz Education Network

  • North American Saxophone Alliance

  • American Federation of Musicians

  • College Music Society

Presentations

  • ISJAC International Jazz Composers' Symposium, New Music Masterclass, 2022

Achievements

  • Served as an Additional Engineer on Daversa's Grammy Award-Winning Album "American Dreamers"

  • Composed, Arranged, and Transcribed for Patrick Bartley, Dave Damiani, Bob Reynolds, Sal Valentinetti, The Balcony Big Band, the Airmen of Note, the Washington Symphony Orchestra, and Chris Thile, among others