Nicholas Rousseau

      Nicholas is a Brooklyn based Guitarist and Composer who seeks to bring thought provoking and emotionally compelling music to whomever he gets the pleasure of sharing with. Influenced by musicians from Wayne Shorter to Shai Maestro, The Beatles to Led Zeppelin, Foo Fighters to Circa Survive, he attempts to utilize every part of his musical upbringing and style into his compositions and improvisations. He attempts to fuse simple lyrical melodies above intricate harmonies with subtlety shifting rhythms. His ultimate goal is to make the intellectually sophisticated sound simple and accessible while still having an explorative, reaching nature. And most importantly, creating an emotional connection with the listener.

He leads his own trio/quartet which includes Jazz standards and Great American Songbook arrangements, originals, and jazz arrangements of Beatles tunes. One feature of their repertoire includes a five movement suite composed by Nick entitled "Loving and Losing" suite, a set of Wayne Shorter inspired "Zero Gravity" miniatures where the group spontaneously reconstructs fragments of Nick's music, and a suite entitled "The Reveries," based loosely on Jean-Jaques Rousseau's book "The Reveries of a Solitary Walker." He likes to refer to this music as "Improvisational Music."

In May 2017, he acquired a Bachelors Degree in Jazz Performance from Florida International University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. He currently is attending New York University, where he is pursuing his Masters of Music degree in Jazz Studies. In addition, he is an adjunct instructor of non-degree jazz guitar lessons at NYU. He has studied privately with musicians such as Alvaro Bermudez, Tom Lippincott, Gary Campbell, Eric Hofbauer, Ben Schwendener, Ari Hoenig, and Alex Sipiagin.