Jesse Bartlett-Webber is a drummer, band director, New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) teacher and composer living in New York City. His musicianship draws equally from classic and modern jazz, rock, pop, Latin, show tunes, and the avant-garde. His musical voice conveys a dynamicism and audacity that is at once as willing to embrace tradition as it is to break with it.
He has shared the stage with artists including Broadway’s Shoshanna Bean (“Wicked;” “Waitress,”), Grammy / Tony Award winner Jennifer Holliday (“Dreamgirls;” “And I am Telling You I’m Not Going”), Domenick Allen (Foreigner; Buddy Rich Big Band), Steve V. King (The Drifters), and “Big Mike” Daigeau and (Tito Puente; Doc Severinsen’s Tonight Show with Johnny Carson Band). He has also worked with outstanding talents from the European and British entertainment world, including Iris Kroes (The Voice of Holland Winner ’12), Claire Maiden (BBC Young Musician of the Year Contest; Holland’s Got Talent ’14), Ben Mills (British X-Factor 2006), Greta Salóme (Eurovision ’12 finalist, Iceland), Phillip Browne (West End “Lion King”) and Amy Atkinson (West End “Aladdin").
In 2016, Bartlett-Webber was member of the band Push Phonic, an electronic/rock/pop act fronted by 2012 American Idol finalist and notorious purveyor of musical hijinks Creighton Fraker.
As a freelancer, Bartlett-Webber has performed and toured as a sideman and a leader in several jazz, pop and rock small-combos for various functions and venues around the New York City area and throughout the country. He has also played informally at jazz jam-sessions in the US and in Europe. In 2011, he co-founded and led the 19-piece indie rock-oriented big band Chris Zalewski and the Alcatraz Fugitives, which covered pop artists largely untouched in the big band oeuvre. In 2013, he toured a dozen cities throughout China performing with New York’s pop-forward symphonic orchestra, the Manhattan Symphonie.
Most recently, Bartlett-Webber has begun to establish himself as a prominent band director, music director and music teacher within New York’s Department of Education (NYCDOE). As a recipient of the 2022-2024 Schubert Foundation/MTI Broadway Jr. partnership, he was the cofounder and musical director of a successful musical theatre program at a high needs K-8 school in the South Bronx, in which his students performed at the program’s annual showcase at the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway. He is a member of the inaugural cohort of the Jazz House Kids Fellowship Program, a cutting-edge initiative to bring high-level jazz education into New York City public schools. For the ’22-’23 academic year, Bartlett-Webber was awarded the Teachers of Tomorrow Award in recognition of his commitment of service to high needs schools.
Earning a Bachelor of Arts from Bennington College in Vermont and a Master of Arts in Teaching from CUNY Lehman College in the Bronx, Bartlett-Webber has studied with some of the most bold and intrepid musicians in the United States, including composer Allen Shawn (“My Dinner with Andre” film score; author of Leonard Bernstein: An American Musician, Arnold Schoenberg's Journey), avant rocker/composer Dr. Kitty Brazelton (Dadadah, Hildegurls), jazz multi-instrumentalist Bruce Williamson (Jack McDuff Band; “Lion King;” “Chicago” on Broadway; Julie Taymor’s “Frida”), choral music maestra Dr. Diana Mittler-Battipaglia (Con Brio Ensemble; author, Franz Mittler: Austro-American Composer, Musician, and Humorous Poet), and conductor Dr. Jason Noble (author, Democracy in Band curriculum; conductor, Columbia Winds Band Ensemble). He also studied extensively under the late free-jazz visionary Milford Graves (New York Art Quartet). Privately, Bartlett-Webber has studied with jazz drummer and aficionado Vinnie Sperrazza (James Williams; 40Twenty; Ethan Iverson), David Ambrosio (Civil Disobedience; Grupo Los Santos), and Jacob Sacks (Dan Weiss Trio; Eivind Opsvik overseas), adding to a long list of creative, caring and compassionate teachers and mentors he has had throughout his life.
As a composer, arranger, and music producer, Bartlett-Webber’s original works have been performed by a variety of ensembles, ranging from big band and small jazz combos to commercial orchestras and classical string quartets. His electronic compositions and remixes have found a place in diverse settings, including theatrical productions and soundtracks for both short and feature-length films. He has extensively recorded and produced his own music, often performing multiple instruments in his arrangements. Drawing inspiration from the unique personalities around him, Bartlett-Webber uses composition as a means to create musical portraits of the individuals he loves and admires.