Electric Guitar, Jazz, Pop music, Rock Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble
Wyatt Ambrose
Lecturer in Music & Artist in Residence
Wyatt Ambrose is a guitarist, composer, and educator based in Oneonta NY. Though he identifies primarily as an improviser and Jazz musician, Wyatt approaches his work with an open heart and mind to all forms of great music. Ambrose maintains a busy schedule as a bandleader and has performed as a sideman with a variety of venerated regional and national artists including Keith Pray, Ray Vega, Tarik Shah (Betty Carter), Joe Barna, Kimberly Hawkey, Jeff Siegel (Sir Rolanda Hanna), and Eric Finland (Eric Krasno, Stanton Moore). He has appeared at venues such as The Bitter End and Rockland Music Hall.
Wyatt received his B.M. in Jazz Studies from SUNY Purchase where he studied with esteemed musicians including Jon Faddis, Vic Juris, Paul Meyers, and Kenny Washington. While at Purchase, Wyatt performed with the Purchase Latin-Jazz Orchestra at the Birdland Jazz Club in Manhattan, as well as Technos College’s Fall festival in Toyko Japan as a duo with vocalist Lucy Wijnands.
In 2024 Ambrose released a live solo guitar album Solo ’24 through Matt Neidbalski’s label Signal Path Records.
Ambrose co-leads the band Killdeer Trio with bassist (and Hartwick Prof) Evan Jagels and drummer Sebastian Green. In 2023 they independently released a self-titled album of original music, and in 2024 they opened for the Joel Frahm Trio at the Alias Jazz Festival in Troy NY, curated by Joe Barna.
In 2024 Wyatt was a recipient of the Arts in the Community Individual Artists Commission through Earlville Opera House and NY State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). This grant was awarded to fund his project Up Here: Reflections on Life in Rural NY, which included a recording of original compositions exploring Ambrose’s experience as a young artist based in rural NY state.
At Hartwick, Ambrose directs the Rock Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble (Big Band). He also teaches a variety of lecture courses in Jazz and Popular Music, as well as Aural Theory I. In 2024 Wyatt helped curate the first annual Hartwick Jazz Day along with Professors Evan Jagels and Gregg Norris.