Performer, Composer, Educator
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Jonah Barnett is an active multi-instrumentalist, composer/arranger, and recording artist based in Washington DC and New York City.
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Quick Credits:
Professor of Jazz Guitar • The University of William & Mary
Music Supervisor/Orchestrator • Alan Turing and the Queen of the Night: Off-Broadway
Music Supervisor/Orchestrator • The Pyramid: A “Dance Moms” Musial Parody
Member • Broadcast Music International (BMI) Jazz Composer’s Workshop
Social Media Manager/Video Editor • Jazz Composers Present
Music Transcription • Daniel Jamieson
Latest Compositions
At the end of my last semester at MSM, I again had opportunity to have one of my original works, "Aegean," read and recorded by the Manhattan School of Music Studio Jazz Reading Orchestra! "Aegean" was designed as a play on Balkan folk music, fused with modal jazz influences. This piece features Ian Weidmann on soprano saxophone and Austin Ford on trumpet. The MSM Studio Jazz Orchestra is conducted by Professor Matt Holman.
This is my piece for this semester's "Jazz Composer's Orchestra" concert at MSM! This as well as my arrangement of Wayne Shorter's "Penelope" will also be performed at Dizzy's Jazz Club in NYC as a part of this concert program! This was an amazing band and I'm so thankful to been able to have my own original work performed and transformed and brought to life by these musicians. This tune is "Phantasm" which I originally wrote as a through-composed quartet composition in my undergrad. It features Tal Kalman on Tenor Sax, Miles Mindlin on Guitar, and Bruno Tzinas on Trombone.
This semester at MSM in completion of my Master's degree I gave an hour long recital of original big band music! This was an amazing band and I'm so thankful to been able to have my own original work performed and transformed and brought to life by these musicians. This tune is "Next Week," which I first wrote as a part of my "Tune a Day" social media challenge, where I wrote a tune every day in December. I then arranged it for a Virginia-based big band last summer, and now premiered in NYC! It features Evan Amoroso on Bass Trombone, Caleb Davis on Trumpet, and myself on Guitar.
This semester at MSM in completion of my Master's degree I gave an hour long recital of original big band music! This was an amazing band and I'm so thankful to been able to have my own original work performed and transformed and brought to life by these musicians. This tune is "Driftwood," my most recent composition at the time of the recital! It features Marty Scott on Trombone, and an intro by Elisee Ngbo on Piano.
This semester at MSM in completion of my Master's degree I gave an hour long recital of original big band music! This was an amazing band and I'm so thankful to been able to have my own original work performed and transformed and brought to life by these musicians. This tune is "Cyan," which I originally wrote for my quartet in undergrad. My professor at MSM Mike Holober described it as a "character study," so for the big band version I decided to expand on that idea. It features Estes Cantarero-George on Trombone, Bryan Cowan on Bari Sax, Danno Petersen on Drums, and Bruno Tzinas on Trombone.
This semester at MSM in completion of my Master's degree I gave an hour long recital of original big band music! This was an amazing band and I'm so thankful to been able to have my own original work performed and transformed and brought to life by these musicians. This tune is "Luxury Car" which was a tune I wrote during my "tune a day" social media challenge, where I tried to write a tune every day in the month of December. It features Mackenzie McCarthy on Tenor Sax, and Elisee Ngbo on Piano, and Matt Stark on Alto Sax.
This semester at MSM in completion of my Master's degree I gave an hour long recital of original big band music! This was an amazing band and I'm so thankful to been able to have my own original work performed and transformed and brought to life by these musicians. This tune is "Tidewater," which I originally wrote for my trio at JMU. It features Chris Ramirez on Bass, Joey Curreri on Trumpet, and Ian Weidmann on Alto Sax.
This semester at MSM in completion of my Master's degree I gave an hour long recital of original big band music! This was an amazing band and I'm so thankful to been able to have my own original work performed and transformed and brought to life by these musicians. This tune is "QUIET!" which was the first big band composition I wrote while at MSM. It features Austin Ford on Trumpet, Adam Lamoureux on Tenor Sax, and Elisee Ngbo on Piano.
I was recently given the amazing opportunity to both play in as well as arrange a and adapt 3 selections for the Manhattan School of Music Jazz Orchestra's "Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Wayne Shorter" Concert, featuring Ingrid Jensen and Melissa Aldana! This arrangement is of a tune off of Wayne's 1965 album "Etcetera." The piece is scored for standard jazz big band instrumentation, is conducted by Jim Saltzman and features Ingrid Jensen on trumpet and Christian Holm-Svendsen on tenor sax.
This is my big band arrangement of "If I Were A Bell" from the Musical "Guys and Dolls," based on the 1956 recording off of "Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet." I've recently become interested in recreating/reimagining classic jazz recordings for the big band format following my arrangement of Wayne Shorter's "Penelope" and other recent arranging I've done, and this is one of my newest experiments! This recording is from a reading session with the Manhattan School of Music reading big band in April of 2024. It features Caylie Davis on Trumpet and Andy Peterson on Tenor Sax.