SHAZZ 2026 SPECIAL GUESTS
From the drum set Sherrie leads The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, her quintet FIVE PLAY and co-leads the 3D Jazz Trio. She is also a busy freelance performer, a published composer/arranger and a dedicated educator, clinician, guest conductor and soloist.
With her bands Sherrie has performed at many of the world’s most acclaimed music venues and festivals, from Lincoln Center to the Kennedy Center and the Hollywood Bowl, to Jazz Festivals in Germany, Switzerland, France, Portugal, Ireland, England, Croatia, Japan, Vietnam, and Israel and beyond. Additionally, Sherrie and DIVA were featured at the 2017 NEA Jazz Master’s Awards Ceremony, the soundtrack for the NBC-Macy’s Fireworks Spectacular; on CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood, on TCM’s televised broadcast of the 25th Anniversary of the Kennedy Center and NHK Japan’s New York Jazz. The band also co-stars in the award-winning documentary film The Girls in the Band.
​As an educator, Sherrie runs a private drum set and percussion studio. She is also an active clinician for Yamaha Drums, Sabian Cymbals, Aquarian Drumheads and Vic Firth Drumsticks. From coast-to-coast she also serves as a guest conductor, soloist, and adjudicator for collegiate and high school jazz festivals. Fifteen years ago, Sherrie created, and remains the Music Director for Musical Magic, a hospital outreach program for The Ronald McDonald House – New York. Sherrie’s recent recordings include The DIVA Jazz Orchestra – Tappin Thru Life (2025), The DIVA Jazz Orchestra “30”(2023), The 3D Jazz Trio 9 to 5 (2022), Christmas in 3D(2020) and I Love to See You Smile (2020), DIVA and the Boys (2019, MCG Jazz), and FIVE PLAY “LIVE” at The Firehouse Stage (2019) When Sherrie isn’t fully immersed in her musical worlds, she loves to hike and spend a lot of time outside. She loves her 2 rescue kitties Goofy and Blue and her rescue dog, Finnegan the Australian Terrier. Sherrie and her partner live in a converted Dairy Barn in West Chester, PA. Sherrie loves to swing!
Washington, DC native Leigh Pilzer is a baritone saxophone specialist, composer, arranger, and educator. Her performance resume includes appearances with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore’s Soulful Symphony, and more. She is also a bandleader in her own right, leading the Leigh Pilzer Startet, her all-star quartet/quintet; organ group Leigh Pilzer’s Low Standards; and her latest project, Leigh Pilzer’s Seven Pointed Star. She also co-leads PALS, a duo with bassist Amy Shook and JLQ, the Jen Krupa-Leigh Pilzer Quintet. Pilzer has presented her groups to enthusiastic audience response at top venues including Blues Alley, Keystone Korner, the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, and the Atlas Performing Arts Center, to name a few. Pilzer is an in-demand composer and arranger whose music is performed by jazz ensembles and brass quintets throughout the country, as well as by the DC-area premier military jazz ensembles. She has contributed a number of works to the libraries of SJMO, DIVA, and BCJO, including “East Coast Andy,” the opening track on DIVA’s critically acclaimed 25th Anniversary Project.
Other notable writing credits include orchestrations for the Broadway production of Maurice Hines Tappin Thru Life and horn section arrangements for recordings by Chuck Brown and Eva Cassidy. Pilzer is a Brava Jazz Publishing artist, and commissions include an arrangement for the University of Maryland Jazz Ensemble’s inaugural recording. Her most recent writing project is a library of compositions and arrangements for her septet, Leigh Pilzer’s Seven Pointed Star. The group’s debut recording, released in March, 2024, includes eight of Pilzer’s original compositions and one by long-time colleague, bassist Amy Shook, all exquisitely arranged by Pilzer for trumpet, alto, trombone, bari/bass clarinet, piano, bass, and drums. As an educator, Pilzer has served on the faculties of University of Maryland, George Mason University, and Towson University. Her teaching responsibilities have included Jazz Theory, Jazz Arranging, Jazz History, Fundamentals of Rock, Blues, and Jazz, and Chamber Jazz Ensemble. She has mentored for Strathmore’s Institute for Artistic Development Artist in Residence (AIR) program and for the North American Saxophone Alliance’s Committee for Gender Equality (CGE), and she strives to serve as a mentor and role model for all her students.