Trombonist

The 2026 NMU Jazz Festival will be held on the beautiful campus of Northern Michigan University on Thursday and Friday, March 19-20. High school and middle school jazz bands and combos in the region are invited to participate.

This year's festival will feature The Westerlies, a New York-based brass quartet comprised of Riley Mulherkar and Chloe Rowlands on trumpet, and Andy Clausen and Addison Maye-Saxon on trombone.  This cutting-edge ensemble is “an arty quartet…mixing ideas from jazz, new classical, and Appalachian folk” (New York Times). From Carnegie Hall to Coachella, The Westerlies navigate a wide array of venues and projects with the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock band, and the charm of a family sing-along.

2026 NMU Jazz Festival

Northern Michigan University

The Westerlies, “an arty quartet…mixing ideas from jazz, new classical, and Appalachian folk” (New York Times) are a New York-based brass quartet comprised of Riley Mulherkar and Chloe Rowlands on trumpet, and Andy Clausen and Addison Maye-Saxon on trombone. From Carnegie Hall to Coachella, The Westerlies navigate a wide array of venues and projects with the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock band, and the charm of a family sing-along. Formed in 2011, the self-described “accidental brass quartet” takes its name from the prevailing winds that travel from the West to the East. “Skilled interpreters who are also adept improvisers” (NPR’s Fresh Air), The Westerlies explore jazz, roots, and chamber music influences to create the rarest of hybrids: music that is both "folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous” (NPR Music). 

We are very excited to host The Westerlies on the NMU campus as part of a collaboration with the NMU Jazz Festival.  Their Thursday evening Siril Concert will also serve as the opening concert of the 2026 NMU Jazz Festival.  The members of the ensemble will serve as clinicians for visiting high school and middle school bands attending the Festival, and they will also be featured individually as guest soloists with NMU Jazz Ensembles during the Friday evening Jazz Festival Concert!

The Westerlies!

It’s not every day that a group establishes a new ensemble concept in jazz, but The Westerlies have pulled off this rare feat with style, polish and abundant curiosity. Featuring trumpeters Riley Mulherkar and Chloe Rowlands and trombonists Andy Clausen and Addison Maye-Saxon, the New York-based brass quartet has sailed from Carnegie Hall to Coachella, gracefully navigating a wide array of venues and projects with the intense calibration of a string quartet, the audacity of an indie rock band, and the welcoming spirit of a family sing-along. They make their SFJAZZ bow with this intimate show.

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The Westerlies

SFJAZZ Center

The Westerlies are a New York-based brass quartet comprised of Riley Mulherkar and Chloe Rowlands on trumpet and Andy Clausen and Addison Maye-Saxon on trombone. From Carnegie Hall to Coachella, The Westerlies navigate a wide array of venues and projects with the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock band, and the charm of a family sing-along.

Somerville Theatre

Composer/singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane returns as guest curator once again for the tenth season of PIVOT. Kahane’s work exists at the intersection of art and social practice, and he is one of the most thoughtful—and thought-provoking—artists of his generation. He will perform opening night and host all three evenings of deliciously ingenious music brimming with thought, humor—both dark and light—and substance.

PIVOT Festival 2

War Memorial and Performing Arts Center

The opening work on this program immerses us in Ives’ haunting mini-philosophy-lesson about the universe and man’s eternal search for meaning in it. Three groups of players (a string orchestra, a solo trumpet, and a group of flutes) make their arguments with the inevitable conclusion. The Westerlies, an “arty quartet … mixing ideas from jazz, new classical, and Appalachian folk” (~ The New York Times) with a ferociously unique vision of brass—and yes, named for the prevailing west to east winds—blow in to play Conrad Tao’s Westerlies Concerto. And in a classy-brassy pivot, an ear-stretching take on Dvořák’s exuberant string quartet, especially arranged for the OPO and The Westerlies, is bound to please!

Seeking Answers

The Plaza Live

The remarkable brass quartet The Westerlies will lead guests in the second Wander concert of the 2023 season, moving between three sites located within the main Cottonwood Campus. Known as “skilled interpreters who are also adept improvisers” (NPR’s Fresh Air), The Westerlies will fittingly present a program featuring two contemporary works composed originally not for brass, but for piano and string. Beginning at Iron Tree by Ai Weiwei, members Riley Mulherkar and Chloe Rowlands (trumpet) and Andy Clausen and Willem de Koch (trombone) will perform singer, songwriter, and pianist Robin Holcomb’s Wherein Lies the Good, a centerpiece of the quartet’s 2020 album of the same name. From Iron Tree, guests and musicians alike will walk along a flat, gravel path to Patrick Dougherty’s Daydreams/Cursive Takes a Holiday to experience Entr’acte by Pulitzer Prize-winner composer Caroline Shaw. The performance concludes a short distance away, under the canopy of Francis Kéré’s Xylem, with This is Water by the Westerlies own trombonist Andy Clausen.

Wander series: The Westerlies

Tippet Rise Art Center

The Grammy-nominated brass quartet known for playing with the precision of a string quartet and the audacity of a rock band performs new arrangements of works by the celebrated jazz guitarist and composer Bill Frisell from their forthcoming album, Stand Up, Sit Down: The Music of Bill Frisell, Vol. 2. The second volume in their career-spanning retrospective of Frisell’s compositions sheds new light on old songs while firmly planting Frisell in the canon of American Concert Music in the lineage of Ives, Copland and Ellington. “An arty quartet…mixing ideas from jazz, new classical, and Appalachian folk” (The New York Times), The Westerlies have upended presumptions of the brass tradition to create music that is “folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous” (NPR Music).

Trombonist

Andy Clausen

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 14, 2027

“Stand Up, Sit Down” The Westerlies Play Bill Frisell Album Release Show · Kaufman Music Center

Past events

Mar 20, 2026

2026 NMU Jazz Festival · Northern Michigan University School of Music, Theatre and Dance

Mar 19, 2026

The Westerlies! · Northern Michigan University School of Music, Theatre and Dance

About

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