Grammy-winning musician Roxy Coss, a graduate of two esteemed Seattle-area jazz programs at Washington Middle School and Garfield High School, has been making her mark in New York City since 2007 as a jazz saxophonist, composer, educator, and activist.
In 2019, Coss dropped into the KNKX Studios for a performance and chat, highlighting the sizable influence of her Seattle upbringing on her career, as well as her efforts to make jazz a more inclusive place for women and nonbinary musicians.
Coss, who was raised in Seattle and encouraged to pursue her creative passions by her artist mother, was part of a particularly fruitful generation of students to learn jazz from Clarence Acox, jazz band director at Garfield High School, and from Robert Knatt, jazz band director at Garfield's feeder school, Washington Middle School.
"Both teachers...were very, very instrumental in creating dozens of professional jazz musicians who are now in New York thriving," Coss said. "I'm grateful to be a part of that generation of musicians and Essentially Ellington."
Coss and her classmates attended the prestigious Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band competition three times while at Garfield, taking second place in 2002 and first place in 2003 and 2004.
"I think the timing of [Essentially Ellington] becoming very popular was good for me. I went three times, so that was my introduction to New York City and when I really figured out I wanted to move there and pursue jazz as a profession," Coss said. "So, I wouldn't have been able to do that without going to Garfield and working with those amazing teachers."
Despite these early educational opportunities, Coss couldn't help but notice that she was one of the few female musicians in her band. Even today, Coss explained that there's still work to do to increase gender equity in the music industry.
"I will say that Seattle is a pretty progressive town and I'm grateful for that. And I'm grateful for both Robert Knatt and Clarence Acox, and as well as many of my private teachers, Mark Taylor, Ann and Jill Drummond, and Dan Greenblatt. The list goes on, but they were very supportive in giving me the tools I needed to succeed, regardless of my gender," she said.
Still, Coss continued to witness inequities in jazz as she moved into her professional career. In 2017, she decided to do something about it by co-founding the Women in Jazz Organization (WIJO) with vocalists Aubrey Johnson and Tahira Clayton.
"We started out meeting every month and quickly sort of solidified the mission statement, which is that we want to help level the playing field so that women and nonbinary people have an equal opportunity to participate and contribute to jazz, therefore, creating a more rich, diverse, successful art form," Coss said.
The slow and steady growth of WIJO, now a registered nonprofit in New York City, led to the formation of a close-knit community of women and nonbinary jazz musicians. As opposed to feeling isolated and in competition with one another, the members of WIJO support each other's professional aspirations.
"It's been an amazing couple years of actually watching myself become closer to women in jazz and the network growing [to] where more women are calling each other to play together," Coss said.
When asked where the problem starts for girls who want to learn to play music, Coss explained that lower expectations play a big role.
"There are young girls always in schools, but what happens is, as they get older, they quit. A few of them have said personally to me, 'just seeing you play, it's an option now in my mind,' and I didn't have that when I was that age," Coss said.
An example to women and all hopeful jazz musicians around the Puget Sound and far beyond, Coss returns home to the Pacific Northwest often. Revisit her 2019 KNKX Studio Session for more about Coss' music and connection to the region.
