Max Bessessen

Max Bessessen - alto sax; Cameron Campbell - piano; Conway Campbell Jr. - bass; Angus Mason - drums

Max Bessesen is multi-woodwind instrumentalist and composer living in Brooklyn, NY. He creates music that “pushes boundaries without being abstruse and is stirringly emotive while eschewing melodrama.” (Jazziz Magazine)

His “saxophone virtuosity” (Downbeat Magazine) has helped him perform in bands led by Darcy James Argue, Mimi Jones, and Tyler Mitchell as well as an accomplished community of peers in his own generation. Max has played at venues and festivals across the United States, the Netherlands, and in Jordan as well as notable New York clubs like Dizzy’s, Birdland, Ornithology, Bar Bayeux and The Jazz Gallery.

Max’s 2020 debut album Trouble (Ropeadope) features Cornettist Ron Miles, and the second single “Bakkam” won an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer award. Support for this and other projects has come from Luminarts, The Boulder County Arts Alliance, and The Beebe Fund. As a 2016-17 Beebe Fellow, Max spent a year studying music in India, Ghana and Cuba.

Born and raised in Denver, Max’s early exposure to music was primarily through choir, his parents’ large, eclectic record collection, and the weekly band practices his father held in his childhood home. As a teenager he gigged regularly, and received pivotal early encouragement from Ron Miles.

Max holds a BM from Oberlin Conservatory and an MM from Manhattan School of Music. While in school Max won four Downbeat Student Music Awards including the “Outstanding Soloist” and “Jazz Arrangement” awards.

Prior to moving to NYC Max spent four years living in Chicago, where he worked with many fantastic local musicians, recorded five albums with his peers, and appeared at all the major jazz venues and festivals. He has given master classes at colleges in Illinois, as well as elementary, middle and high schools across the United States. He teaches private students from his home in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

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