Gregory W. Yasinitsky, composer and saxophonist, is winner of the American Prize for Composition, the leader of the YAZZ Band, and is a recipient of grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Commission Project, Artist Trust, and ASCAP. He served as the composer and conductor of the Jazz Education Network All Stars Big Band, which included some of the most acclaimed musicians in the world, and has written music especially for David Sanborn, Sean Jones, Clark Terry, Jeff Coffin, Dave Liebman, and the USAF Airmen of Note. Yasinitsky has hundreds of published musical works which are performed in 40 countries worldwide, and his compositions and saxophone playing are featured on 50 recordings.
Yasinitsky has performed with Randy Brecker, Marcus Printup, Tom Harrell, Ed Calle, Alex Acuna, Kirk Whalum, Claudio Roditi, Conrad Herwig, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Louis Bellson, Stan Getz, Lionel Hampton, Lou Rawls, Manhattan Transfer, and many others. Yasinitsky is a member of the Washington State Music Educators Hall of Fame and is a Regents Professor Emeritus at Washington State University, where he taught jazz studies, saxophone, and composition for 40 years. He received the WSU Eminent Faculty Award, the Sahlin Faculty Excellence Award for Research, Scholarship and Arts, and the Distinguished Faculty Award from the College of Arts and Sciences.