Irene Louise Rosnes (born 24 March 1962), known professionally as Renee Rosnes, is a Canadian jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

Early life

Rosnes was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and grew up in North Vancouver, British Columbia, where she attended Handsworth Secondary School. She was three when she began taking classical piano lessons. She became interested in jazz music in high school, introduced to it through the school's band director Bob Rebagliati. She then attended the University of Toronto, where she pursued classical performance with pianist William Aide. In 1985, Rosnes was awarded a Canada Council for the Arts grant, and moved to New York City to further her studies.

Career

Shortly after arriving in New York, Rosnes became the pianist for the Blue Note Records label band, Out of the Blue, and recorded the 1989 album "Spiral Staircase" with the band. After tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson hired her to play with his quartet in 1986, Rosnes began an international career. In 1988, she was a member of the Wayne Shorter Band and in 1989, she joined trombonist J. J. Johnson's Quintet and remained his pianist of choice until he retired in 1997. In 1989, she also began working with tenor saxophonist James Moody and was the pianist in his quartet for the next 20 years. Rosnes frequently performed with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, and recorded For Sentimental Reasons with his quartet in 2007. She was a founding member of the SFJAZZ Collective, and played with the octet from 2004 through 2009. Since 2012, she has been a member of bassist Ron Carter's Foursight Band, which tours frequently in Europe. In 2023, Rosnes won her seventh Canadian Juno Award for Solo Jazz Album of the Year for Kinds of Love Smoke Sessions Records, recorded with Chris Potter on tenor, soprano saxes and flute, Christian McBride on bass, and Carl Allen on drums and Rogerio Boccato on percussion. She made four Japanese trio recordings for the VideoArts label with The Drummonds with ex-husband Billy Drummond and the unrelated Ray Drummond on bass. She married jazz pianist Bill Charlap on 25 August 2007, and the couple released a piano duet recording titled Double Portrait (Blue Note). Rosnes was the host of Jazz Profiles, a CBC Radio show in which she profiled Canadian jazz musicians. Guests included pianists Paul Bley, Joe Sealy and Oliver Jones, bassists Don Thompson and Michel Donato, trumpeters Guido Basso and Kenny Wheeler, and drummer Terry Clarke. With producer Kelly Peterson Rosnes is a co-founder of the Canadian Jazz Master Awards and was the artistic director of the Oscar Peterson International Jazz Festival, which took place in Ontario, Canada. Rosnes is the pianist and musical director of the sextet Artemis. The other members are Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Alexa Tarantino (alto sax & reeds), Noriko Ueda (bass), Allison Miller (drums). The group signed with the Blue Note label, and their eponymously titled debut album was released on 11 September 2020.

Awards and honours

Discography

As leader

As a member

Out of the Blue Superblue The Drummonds With Ray Drummond, Billy Drummond SFJAZZ Collective

As sideperson

With Ron Carter With Todd Coolman With Michael Dease With Billy Drummond With Jon Faddis With Jimmy Greene With Joe Henderson With J. J. Johnson With Marian McPartland With Jimmy Scott With Gary Thomas With Walt Weiskopf With Gerald Wilson With Dave Young With others