Editor, Webmaster:  Phil Cartwright       Editor@earlyjas.org
Glenn Crytzer
Earlville Association for Ragtime Lovers Yearning for
Jazz Advancement and Socialization
EARLYJAS
Traditional jazz musicians in Cleveland first met young Glenn Cryzter when he was a master’s
student at the prestigious Cleveland Institute of Music.  He strolled in to the Barking Spider one
day and caught our attention with his fancy swing dancing.  Soon he was sitting in with us on
banjo and leading his own jazz band.

Upon graduation from CIM, Glenn moved to Seattle and soon became a leader in the swing dance movement
there.  He surrounded himself with some mighty fine musicians (many we know from the Uptown Lowdown Jazz
Band).  His horizons expanded and soon he was leading bands and playing all over the country from Seattle to San
Diego to Washington, DC and even Lincoln Center.  Just turned 30, he has three great CDs and continues to tour
and play all over the US and Canada.

Glenn Crytzer’s background includes both classical music and jazz. He earned his Bachelor of Music in classical
composition from the
Florida State University in 2003 and a Master of Music in classical composition from the
Cleveland Institute of Music
in 2006.

While a college student, Crytzer took up
swing dance as a hobby. Through dance, he became interested in classic
jazz and took up the banjo. In 2005, he founded the Any Measure Jazz Band at the Cleveland Institute of Music; a
band which allowed Crytzer and his colleagues, all studying classical music, to learn about performing early jazz.
After a move to Seattle in 2006, Crytzer founded the
Syncopators and took up the guitar in order to add swing
era music to the band's repertoire, which at that time focused solely on 20’s “Hot Music” and New Orleans Jazz. In
2008 Crytzer founded his
Blue Rhythm Band which expanded the Syncopators to a full 13 piece, swing era big
band.

Crytzer has combined his love of composing with his love of jazz both through composing classical music which is
heavily influenced by his jazz sensibilities as well as by composing and arranging new work for the Syncopators and
Blue Rhythm Band. The Syncopators’ album
“Harlem Mad” contains 20 of Crytzer’s original songs, and the Blue
Rhythm Band’s album
“Chasin’ the Blues” includes 12 of Crytzer’s original arrangements – 3 of which are
original songs including tracks like “Rachin’ in Rhythm” a track which nods its head to both Duke Ellington’s classic
title as well as Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto Number 2”, and “Dickey’s Blues,” a song constructed from
leitmotivs from Richard Wagner’s“Der Ring des Nibelungen.” His latest CD,
“Skinny Menne” is a live
performance of his Syncopators band at a concert in Minneapolis.  It includes classics from the 20’s and 30’s as
well as some of his own compositions.  In each CD, you can easily hear Glenn paying homage to the masters:
Basie, Waller, Ellington and the big bands from the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s.

You can preview and purchase his recordings at: http://www.bluerhythmband.net/