Steve Treseler is an award-winning Seattle-based saxophonist, composer, and innovative leader in teaching improvised music. Hailed by Earshot as a "firebrand of the tenor saxophone,” DownBeat calls his music “beautifully crafted...whether free, through-composed, or somewhere in between.” Steve performs and leads improvisation workshops throughout North America, Europe, and Japan, performing at Birdland, Blue Note Hawaii, and live on NPR’s Jazz Night in America.

photo by Daniel Sheehan

Treseler’s bold and collaborative approach to improvised music began to take shape during his early adolescence in Edmonds, WA immersed in the hypnotic rhythm of Seattle’s grunge scene. He started playing clarinet in a public school band program, adding tenor saxophone in middle school. Throughout his high school years, Steve was obsessed with the spontaneity and virtuosity of classic jazz recordings. He began composing original music and performed at festivals up and down the West Coast with a youth trad jazz band. Treseler’s musical voice crystallized during his studies at New England Conservatory in Boston, where he was exposed to group improvisational techniques and the mentorship of jazz legends Jerry Bergonzi, Bob Brookmeyer, and George Garzone.

Today, Treseler is embedded in the jazz and creative music scene in the Pacific Northwest and has released five albums as a leader. His collaborations with lauded trumpeter Ingrid Jensen received four-star reviews in DownBeat magazine, and their album Invisible Sounds: for Kenny Wheeler on Whirlwind Recordings was praised by the New York Times as "lyrical and songlike, whether moving at a quick clip or drifting as slowly as cloud cover. . . a standout album."  Steve has also performed or recorded with Bill Frisell, Bob Brookmeyer, Rufus Reid, Leroy Jones, Jeff Hamilton, Orrin Evans, Annie Booth Big Band, Johnaye Kendrick, Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra, Geoffrey Keezer, and Harmelodic League with Jamaaladeen Tacuma. His latest project, an unaccompanied solo album Source will be released in early 2027.

Embracing eclectic sounds beyond jazz, Treseler collaborates with songwriters Damien Jurado, Ray Wolff, and Lacey Bown, layering woodwind textures to their poignant storytelling. He explores experimental sonic worlds with Scrambler Soundpainting Ensemble, a multidisciplinary artist collective, and Radiant Fields, a solo project for saxophone and electronic effects. He studies the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute, which was played by Zen Buddhist monks as spiritual practice.

As a teaching artist, Treseler is the founder of Infinite Improvisation, offering community-centered workshops and retreats that draw from improv theater games, conducted improvisation, and the aural tradition of jazz. Seattle JazzED calls his workshops, “revolutionary. . . Steve is an expert at teaching improvisation in a fun, encouraging way.” Steve is on faculty at the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho and the Pacific Music Institute in Honolulu. He leads workshops and artist residencies throughout the U.S. and Europe, including at Berklee College of Music, JEN, Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, and in the Austrian Alps with Più Piano. Steve is the author of two instructional books, the Amazon Bestseller Creativity Triggers for Musicians (2017) and The Living Jazz Tradition: A Creative Guide to Improvisation and Harmony (CMA Press, 2014), which are used in music schools worldwide.

Treseler graduated from New England Conservatory with a distinction in performance and was named “Outstanding Jazz Soloist” in the DownBeat Student Music Awards. He holds a Master of Music in Jazz Studies and Improvised Music from the University of Washington where he was a teaching assistant for groundbreaking trumpeter Cuong Vu.

Treseler is a Conn Selmer performing artist.