The CJO has had a number of memorable collaborations with Velvet and Ellen, including Velvet’s most recent live CD in which the CJO was her accompanying ensemble (with Ellen joining on piano) to create some special sonic masterpieces.

Velvet Brown enjoys a career as professor, international tuba soloist, composer/arranger, chamber ensemble performer, recording artist, conductor, and orchestral player. She is the David P. Stone Endowed Professor for the School of Music at Penn State and the Associate Director of the School of Music for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Brown is also Visiting Artist Faculty at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. She has released five solo CDs, and has collaborated on several other recordings as a soloist and ensemble member, including a solo tuba jazz recording with the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra.

Ellen Rowe, jazz pianist and composer, is currently the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan. Ms. Rowe has released five CDs as a leader. Her newest album Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion was released to widespread critical acclaim in January 2019. Her various small groups have been featured at jazz festivals and universities around the country and Momentum was recently selected to perform at the 2022 Jazz Education Network Conference. Ms. Rowe’s compositions and arrangements are published by Kendor Music, Doug Beach Music and Sierra Music Publishing and have been performed by ensembles including the Village Vanguard Orchestra, BBC Jazz Orchestra, U.S. Navy Commodores, Berlin and NDR Radio Jazz Orchestras, DIVA and the Perth Jazz Orchestra.