Peter Fraize

Biography

A fixture on the Washington, D.C., scene, tenor saxophonist Peter Fraize performs in a variety of styles, although he is best-known for his hard bop work that skirts the edges of freestyle jazz. Fraize was raised in northern Virginia and studied classical saxophone at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He then traveled to Europe, where he came under the tutelage of Dutch saxophonist Leo van Oostrom at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague. In Europe, Fraize led a quartet and worked with several bands, including the free bop quintet, Scapes, which won first prize at the 1989 Middelzee Jazz Concours. Upon returning to Washington, D.C., in 1989, Fraize formed the fusion group Stickman, which performed at the Mellon Jazz Festival in Pittsburgh. Since 1994, he has performed extensively with his freestyle trio. Fraize is also a member of the Greg Hatza Organization and a rock group, the Emptys. He is also director of jazz studies at George Washington University.