About me

Trombonist, pianist, and composer Jack Kotze has been living and freelancing in New York City since 2016 when he moved there to study at the Manhattan School of Music. Since then he has performed and recorded in numerous big bands, jazz combos, rock bands, theater pits, chamber ensembles, and symphony orchestras. Jack has performed as a sideman in groups led by Jon Batiste, Darren Criss, Arturo O’Farrill, Damien Sneed, Ryan Keberle, and Steven Feifke, among others. He also fronts his own trio and co-leads the new jazz fusion ensemble, 5th Estate. In addition to performing, Jack has a passion for composition, orchestration, and arranging and works as a freelance music copyist. He also loves to teach! Jack gives private trombone and piano lessons, and is on faculty at Larchmont Music Academy. Born in Chicago, he began piano studies at age 7, and at 10 took up the trombone. In 2014, Jack was awarded the Kiewat-Wang Mentorship Award from the Jazz Institute of Chicago which gave him the opportunity to study with highly acclaimed trombonist and arranger Tom Garling.

Some of Jack’s accomplishments include attending Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead program at the Kennedy Center in 2018, being named a YoungArts jazz finalist in 2017, and performing in the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation Jazz Orchestra and the Grammy Band in 2016. More recently, he was named a co-winner of the International Trombone Association Carl Fontana Jazz Trombone Competition in 2020 and a finalist in the UNT Jazz Trombone Competition in 2022. Jack graduated from the Manhattan School of Music with his BM in 2020 and MM in 2022. During his time there he was fortunate enough to study with Luis Bonilla, Marshall Gilkes, Stefon Harris, Ingrid Jensen, Ryan Keberle, Dave Taylor, and Steve Turre. Besides music, Jack enjoys baseball, cycling, video games, and cooking! He currently resides in Washington Heights.