Downeast Saxophone Quartet
June 28 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
$20.00
The DownEast Saxophone Quartet was formed in the spring of 2023 by Zach Gorrell and features all original arrangements with a repertoire that ranges from 1920s jazz standards, 1960s bebop tunes, motown classics, to modern day top 40 hits. The group’s members are high level performers and educators with a range of musical influences that blend to create the unique sound of The DownEast Saxophone Quartet.
Zach Gorrell (Alto)
Zach Gorrell is a pianist, saxophonist, composer, arranger, and the District Music Teacher at MSAD3. He has studied with world class teachers including the late renowned jazz educator Charlie Banacos, Margaret Banacos, Mike Tucker, Chris Vadala, Joe Hunt, and more. Zach graduated from the University of Maryland in 2012, receiving a BA in Economics while studying music and performing in the university’s jazz combos and big bands. In 2020, at the start of the covid-19 pandemic, Zach and his family moved from the north shore of Massachusetts up to DownEast Maine and was delighted to find talented saxophonists interested in forming the DownEast Saxophone Quartet!
Rebecca (Becky) Mallory (Alto)
Rebecca (Becky) Mallory began teaching music in Maine as an undergrad in 1990 when she was a flute/saxophone instructor at Maine Summer Youth Music Camp. Now with a master’s degree in music education and over thirty years of teaching experience, she serves as the Director of music at Reeds Brook Middle School in Hampden, Maine. In addition to band and chorus, she instructs an award-winning jazz band. She plays saxophone in the Twisted Swing Big Band, Skyliners Dance Band, and the Opus One Big Band. Becky is also a flutist in the Bangor Band and serves as the director of jazz at the MSYM junior camp at the University of Maine.
Formerly the conductor of the Bangor Symphony Youth Orchestra Wind Ensemble, MMEA District 5 chair, and MMEA Instrumental Jazz Chair, she has studied at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Directors Academy in NYC and is a three-time Penobscot County Teacher of the Year nominee. Becky has been a guest conductor and clinician at festivals all over the state of Maine and is best known for her love to inspire students to be their best kind of human through music. She lives with her supportive family in Stockton Springs, ME.
Nathan Williams (Tenor)
Nathan Williams is a Bangor area Jazz musician and saxophonist. He is a Music Education and Music Performance major at the University of Maine and has been a featured soloist in the Umaine and Colby jazz ensembles. He is a graduate of the US Army School of Music and touring member of the 195th Army Band. He played as a professional pit member in Penobscot Theatre’s production of “Matilda” and performs locally on a regular basis. Nathan currently studies with Mark Tipton and Daniel Fisher-Lochhead.
Steve Orlofsky (Bari)
“Mr. O” was a Band Director for 43 years, 34 consecutive years (1988-2021) as Director of Instrumental Music at George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill and 9 years (1974-1977 & 1982-1987) at Fort Fairfield!
Through the years, GSA music ensembles conducted by Mr. O achieved great success, winning numerous musical awards at the Maine State Instrumental Jazz Festival, the Berklee College of Music Jazz Festival in Boston, the National Jazz Festival in Philadelphia and the Great East Music Festival in Methuen, Massachusetts. Steve plays saxophones, clarinet & flute in many bands such as the “Night & Day” Jazz Trio, a funk band “Maine Street R&B Revue”, the “Si Yates Quintet” and other local big bands and combos. He also has performed for bands that have accompanied major stars such as the Four Tops, the Temptations, David Bowie, Roy Orbison, Johnny Mathis, the Supremes, Steve Lippia, Frankie Valle & the Four Seasons, Manhattan Transfer, Joan Rivers, Bob Newhart, Chubby Checker and David Raitt.
As a music educator, Steve received 3 huge honors. In 2021, he received the 2021 National Jazz Festival Jazz Educator Award and in 2012, the Maine Music Educator of the Year award and the Blue Hill Halcyon Grange #345 “Citizen of the Year” award.
Steve lives in Surry with his wife Carol who works at Mainescape in Blue Hill. Their daughter Kate a 2008 graduate of GSA and a 2012 graduate of Cornell University, is employed as a wildlife biologist at Denali National Park, Alaska. The Orlofsky family includes their dog Ulu, a Yukon husky and Mizzle, a gray with white trim cat.
