MICHAEL "CODY" DEAR

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Saxophonist, pianist and composer Cody Dear, 25, was raised in Danville, California. Musical organizations that influenced his artistic development include the award-winning California Jazz Conservatory’s Monday Night Studio Band, Berkeley Jazzschool Advanced Jazz Workshop and various Honor Ensembles including the California All-state Jazz Band.

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Dear has a B.A. in Ethnomusicology with a concentration in Jazz Studies and an emphasis in Performance from the University of California, Los Angeles.  He was a three-year member of the UCLA Gluck Music Outreach Program and led the group for two years.  In 2016, Dear interned with the Warner Bros. TV Music Department.  During his senior year in college, Dear was the recipient of the following Awards and Recognition:  ASCAP Foundation Jazz Composition in honor of Louis Armstrong Award, Emma B. Keller Fine Arts Scholarship, and the Jorge Estrada Award.  

He has performed at various local venues and internationally, including North Sea, Vienne, Montreux and Umbria Jazz Festivals as well as in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Mexico and Australia.  Dear has shared the stage with distinguished luminaries including Terence Blanchard, Wycliffe Gordon, Justo Almario, Uri Caine and Antonio Lysy.

Dear’s Jazz repertoire has expanded and evolved in the past few years; his new compositions are a cross-genre of R&B, Soul and Funk, influenced by the improvisation elements of Jazz.  Dear’s diverse style has given him the opportunity to perform in different types of music settings including the Sydney Opera House, Corona Capital Music Festival, Atlanta Pride, ABS CBN, Universal City Walk and many others.  In addition, his eclectic sound has allowed him to join LA based musicians on a Corona beer television commercial, perform and record with artists including MAX, Party Pupils, Megan Lee, Diamond White, Chai, Travis Barker, Maejor, and Theophilus London.  Dear released his debut album in January 2019 which has garnered upward of 2 million streams on Spotify alone.

He has been on a worldwide tour with pop artist MAX playing saxophone and keys. In 2019, Dear was honored to have a signature SYOS Artist mouthpiece named after him.  His most current projects include leading The Cody Dear Collective, writing commissioned scores including a Jazz number for Magical Girl Friendship Squad on the Syfy channel, collaborating with actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt's media platform HITRECORD and composing music for his upcoming sophomore album.