Bess Jacques

I grew up in Westbrook, starting classical piano lessons at age six with Linda Russell in Portland. I studied with Linda for twelve years and am so grateful to her for the thorough and fantastic background – technical, theoretical, and expressive – that she challenged me to achieve.

From the beginning I loved writing my own songs, and I competed in and won competitions for youth composition.  Through high school I auditioned for and won various competitions for performance, including the Bay Chamber Concerts Classical Prize, the Portland Rossini Club Annual Award for Youth in Music, and the Arcady Music Festival.  I also enjoyed playing as an accompanist for musicals and choirs, and played alto saxophone in the high school marching and jazz bands.

At Williams College in Massachusetts I branched out from classical piano.  I studied jazz piano with Andy Jaffe for four years, performed on piano and saxophone…