Sam Ross

Sam Ross is a jazz pianist, composer, and educator from Long Beach, California. Sam has opened for such artists as Marcus Miller and The Funky Knuckles. He has performed and/or recorded with/for Robert "Sput" Seawright (credits include Snarky Puppy, Ghost Note), John Daversa (Grammy Award winner), Ralph Moore (Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown) and more. His composition “Portuguese Bend” was selected to be performed at the 2019 Jazz Education Network conference by the US Army’s Jazz Ambassadors as part of the Young Composer Showcase. He won a student Downbeat Award in 2023 for his arrangement of the jazz standard “Blue in Green.” His two “Live at the Mira Room” EPs have swept the jazz radio circuit and were both critically acclaimed. 

Sam completed his graduate studies at California State University Long Beach, obtaining a masters in music. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, graduating with a B.A. in Sociology and a B.F.A. in Jazz Studies in 4 years. He now lives in Long Beach, CA and performs jazz at restaurants, clubs, festivals, and so on, in addition to teaching jazz piano to many private students, as well as teaching part-time at several local high schools.