Travis Bliss

From the salt-laden shores of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, Travis Bliss is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and teacher now based in Brooklyn, NY.  Primarily a saxophonist, Travis’s style and musical aesthetic speak to diverse but interrelated interests and talents.  At times mellifluous and lyrical, like the titanic tenor sounds of bygone era, championed by early swing masters such as Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and Chu Berry. In other moments terse and fleeting, like deconstructed lines and planes of Piet Mondrian or the pointillism of Anthony Braxton and Stump Evans. Aiming always for a stronger understanding of the self, Travis has a trove of interests beyond music. Attempts to find connection, shared and transferred meanings, new metaphors, new possibilities of unity and cooperation between seemingly disparate areas, fill this ever-refilling fountain with a richness of approaches to living and working as an artist.  

Travis is an integral member of active bands and ensembles in NYC: The raucous and surreal Petite Feet, the juxtaposing and chaotic PRNCX, the introspective and sublimely vocal centric Priya Carlberg Quartet. TAVIS is a new project of chamber songs led by Travis born of a covid-era necessity: weekly rehearsing to stave off the lonlyness and seperateness of winter.

Travis has performed and collobrated with Anthony Coleman, Ted Reichman, Joe Morris, Steven Long, Priya Carlberg and performed at Spectrum(NYC), Sculler’s Jazz Club (Boston), The Stone (NYC), Roulette (NYC) The Nash (AZ). Travis graduated with a Masters in Jazz Performance from New England Conservatory 2017.