Bassoon solo works
Jazz standards
Brazilian popular music and Bossa Nova
Woodwind chamber music
Orchestra
Janet earned a Doctorate of Music in bassoon from Rutgers University, a Masters degree in jazz composition from New York University and a Bachelor of Music in bassoon from the New England Conservatory of Music. Composition studies took place with Jim McNeely, the BMI Composers Workshop, and William Thomas McKinley. Janet Grice’s compositions place her bassoon in both chamber and jazz settings; her three jazz CDs, “Song for Andy”, “The Muse”, “Dream Travels” feature her original compositions and arrangements of Brazilian music. Her most recent CD, “Vento Trio: Brazilian Dances and Inventions” includes her arrangements of popular music and little-know works by Brazilian composers acquired through her Doctoral research. Her works can also be heard on NPR, Music Minus One, and Optimism, Inc.
Janet plays the bassoon in both improvisational and classical music contexts; she performed in the USA and internationally with Karl Berger, Butch Morris, Julius Hemphill, Don Cherry, Nana Vasconcelos, and Paulo Moura, the Mingus Orchestra, the STX Ensemble Xenakis, the Festival of Microtonal Music, Eve Belgarian, Anthony Davis and Leroy Jenkins. She plays with Vento Trio, her jazz groups, the Chappaqua Orchestra and freelances as a bassoonist. Her original music was performed at the 92nd St. Y, Lake George Jazz Festival, Celebrate Brooklyn, Boston JazzBoat, International Women in Jazz Series, NARAS Grammy Foundation, the Knitting Factory and SOB’s, and festivals in Switzerland and Brazil. The Boston Globe wrote, “Best of Boston - Janet demonstrated the bassoon is equally adaptable to jazz or symphonic music.” Jazziz Magazine called her first CD, “Song For Andy”, “a gutsy, original idea ... her classically grounded bassoon carries the session.”
In 2009 Janet received a grant from the Surdna Foundation to teach and conduct research at the Instituto Villa Lobos in Rio de Janeiro, where she studied choro repertoire. In past years she received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, USArtists International, WestArts, American Composers Forum, CAP - American Music Center, and Meet the Composer.
Janet is the Band Director at Fordham High School for the Arts, a music facilitator for the NYC Dept. of Education, and Bassoon Professor at the Hoff Barthelson Music School. She taught bassoon and improvisation at the Festival of Music of Londrina in Brazil in 2009 and 2010, and led workshops throughout the USA, Brazil and France. She was a teaching artist for the Lincoln Center Institute, 92nd St. Y, Carnegie Hall and the Westchester Philharmonic, and taught at Rutgers University, St. Joseph’s College of NY, and the Westchester Community College.