About the Author
MEET AUTHOR, COMPOSER & ILLUSTRATOR
Jeff Cortazzo
“What do you get when you combine an accordion-playing electrical engineer dad with an oil-painting can’t-make-a-bad-pie-if-she-tried mom? Me! A cartoon-drawing bass trombonist who composes music and is a cruel pie critic.”
–JEFF CORTAZZO
Jeff Cortazzo has been drawing cartoons ever since he can remember and published a daily internet cartoon from 1999-2003 called Not Quite Right. He has drawn fill art for pamphlets, textbooks and cookbooks in addition to tiny caricatures of orchestra conductors (that often make his trombone section friends spit out their coffee).
Jeff earned his DMA in Music Composition at The Catholic University of America. Over the past 20 years, his original composition commissions have included works for trombone quartet, brass quintet, wind quintet, large trombone ensemble, wind ensemble, orchestra and chorus. From 1992 until his retirement in 2018, Jeff served his country as bass trombonist of The Army Blues, a component of The U.S. Army Band, Pershing’s Own in Washington D.C. During his time in the Army band, Jeff was inspired to write for the unique sonic capabilities of the wind quintet — a diverse ensemble of instruments that includes flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and french horn. These instruments are the personification of the five birds in this book.
Jeff currently plays bass trombone with The National Philharmonic, The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, The Capitol Bones and The Washington Symphonic Brass. He is adjunct professor of bass trombone at The Catholic University of America and The Shenandoah Conservatory. When not restocking the myriad bird feeders in his backyard he is at the beck and call of his beloved and demanding furry pets.
Browse Jeff’s published compositions available at BRSMusic.net.
