Nick Green — artist
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Nick Green comes from a family of hardworking immigrants who helped instill in him the kind of discipline and grit needed to survive in The Big Apple. It was Nick’s father Neil, who bought Nick his first saxophone at the age of eight years old, when he spotted it in the window of an old music shop in Brooklyn as they were walking by. Nick would go on to attend the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts founded by the great Tony Bennett, spending four years in the jazz band led by Bill Stevens. It was there that the fire began to grow, as he learned about the great American art form of Jazz music. Nick was deeply influenced by recordings of masters like Lester Young and Charlie Parker. Nick attended masterclasses held by the keeper of the Bebop flame Barry Harris every Tuesday night while in high school, he also traveled to Rome to study with Harris twice. At the age of 17 Nick met one of his idols of the alto saxophone Charles McPherson he would become a close mentor to Nick. In 2014 Nick was accepted into S.U.N.Y. Purchase College’s Conservatory of Music studying under Gary Smulyan, he would earn a Bachelors in Music Performance as well as a Master’s Degree after studying 6 years there. Nick’s close friend and “Uncle” master percussionist Mino Cinelu gave Nick the name “Bebop Ninja”.