Leigh Pilzer

Leigh Pilzer holds the baritone saxophone chair in the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, where she has played since 2003 and also writes for the band, including "East Coast Andy," the opening track of its 2018 25th Anniversary Project. A Washington, DC native, she has also worked with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra, and leads her own groups from duo up to the septet Leigh Pilzer's Seven Pointed Star. She came to the saxophone by way of the cello, switching after hearing the Count Basie band. She holds a bachelor's in jazz composition and arranging from Berklee, two master's degrees from the University of Maryland, and a 2020 doctorate in saxophone performance from George Mason University, where her dissertation examined Gerry Mulligan's improvising. In 2024 she released "Beatin' the Odds" on Strange Woman Records, a set built around dual septets and an octet.