ENSEMBLES + MEDIA KIT

Christopher Burnett's "Originals" Quartet is a concert ensemble based out of the greater Kansas City music scene. CbQ performs and records original music written specifically for the artist members of this ensemble. Mr. Burnett is an award-winning Broadcast Music, Inc. Composer Affiliate who has written and arranged music for all types of situations. His latest commercial album release was awarded FOUR STAR reviews and featured his arrangements of compositions by composers like Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Antonio Carlos Jobim among others. A Conn-Selmer, Inc. Artist and Clinician, Mr. Burnett has presented jazz clinics with military jazz bands while performing and touring around the country and in Europe. Subsequently, he has presented clinics for both the Missouri Music Educators Association and the Kansas Music Educators Association.

Pianist Roger Wilder was born and raised in Rochester, N.Y. and received a Bachelor of Music from University of Miami in 1986. In 2000, the Wilder family moved to the Kansas City area, where Wilder performs with his own ensembles and as a sideman with various jazz artists and the Kansas City Symphony. He released his own album "Stretch" ARC-2444 in 2013 and has appeared on each of Christopher Burnett's albums in the 2000s and on many albums by other artists including Angela Hagenbach, Duffy Jackson, Mike Metheny, the Westport Art Ensemble, Dan Thomas, the Sons of Brasil, and Stan Kessler. He has served as adjunct jazz professor at the UMKC Conservatory for over 10 years, and he has hosted his own Jazz Radio Show as "The Jazz Geek" on 90.1 FM KKFI Community Radio on Fridays from 1 to 3 pm.

Gerald Spaits, a native of Kansas City, is one of the foremost bass players in the Kansas City area. Spaits has enjoyed an active career including playing with jazz legends Jay McShann and Claude “Fiddler” Williams. Appearing with national recording artists Herb Ellis, Rob McConnell, Marilyn Maye, Gary Foster, and The Woody Herman Orchestra, he has also provided soundtracks for TV and radio commercials. He has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the San Jose Jazz Festival, and the World’s Fair in Seville, Spain. Mr. Spaits is an active bandleader and educator. In addition to teaching privately he has served as assistant professor of jazz string bass at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance.

Morgan Rogers is a percussionist from Kansas City who picked up drumsticks at age 12 and has not put them down since. Morgan has performed with The Black Repertory Theatre, The Kansas City Women’s Chorus, Worlds of Fun, Rocky Horror Show KC, and the Kansas City Jazz Academy. She is also completing her Masters in Computer Science at UMKC and works as a Platform Engineer at Netsmart. She is so excited to be a part of Christopher Burnett’s “Originals” quartet!