Ellen Rowe: In a Cove All Her Own

By John Ephland I Mar. 10, 2026

“I was writing music that I felt was really honest,” Rowe says of her new album, “and I wanted to share myself with these players I’ve met in the last five to seven years.”
(Photo: Peter Smith)

In the press release to Ellen Rowe’s new album Vinton’s Cove (Smokin’ Sleddog), she speaks of it being “a balm for wounded souls” during challenging times. It’s “a deeply personal exploration of nature, music and human connection.” And the front cover photograph of the album might allude to that. We see a small cove on Maine’s Kezar Lake, where her family has shared a cabin since the mid-’50s. Indeed, one might suspect that the music inside exudes an atmosphere of calm, restful solitude, and tranquility.

A recording that took place at Willis Sound (a renovated church) in Willis, Michigan, Vinton’s Cove begins with the easy swinging yet spritely “The Loons Of Vinton’s Cove.” Its uptempo, sunny bounce stands in contrast to what follows: one of the album’s strongest pieces, one that plays closer to Rowe’s stated theme, the serene, imaginative “Refractions.” It creates a mood that exudes that “balm” with measured musical gestures that float, sometimes crawl.

Now that’s a balm that just might transport you to that very quiet, gentle cove. They are two of six originals by Rowe on Vinton’s Cove. Rowe’s jaunty “Clipped Blues” is followed by one co-written with vocalist Sunny Wilkinson (who guests on two tracks), the peppy, fancy-free “Phoenix.” We may still be at the cove, but by now we are in new musical territory, suggesting that Vinton’s Cove won’t be your typical “concept” album.

Pianist and composer Rowe — professor of jazz and contemporary improvisation at the University of Michigan and vice president of the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers — leads her longstanding quartet with saxophonist Mike Sakash, bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Pete Siers through 10 pieces, including two original takes on the standards “All The Things You Are” and “I’ll Remember April” and delicate, tuneful approaches to Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” and Kenny Wheeler’s “Kind Folk.”

“I was writing music that I felt was really honest,” Rowe comments on the new album, “and I wanted to share my self with these players I’ve met in the last five to seven years.”

A focus on her bandmates pervades everything here. “I’m not sure if there is a unifying theme throughout the entire album except wanting to have these particular players play this music. So I realized I had this material from being in this cabin and the lake. A lot of my music is based on a love of the outdoors. The cabin in Maine has been a blessing.” An avid birder, Rowe says, “The one way I can deal with everything that’s going on in the world right now is to get outside and go hiking.”

Before joining the faculty at the University of Michigan in 1996, Rowe was director of jazz studies at the University of Connecticut. At Michigan, a position she will be retiring from in May, Rowe’s first job was to lead their top jazz ensemble.

“Ed Sarath, who is still teaching, was chair of the department when I got here,” she recalls from her office at the university. “He and I grew up together in Ridgefield, Connecticut. My very first jazz gigs were with him. Ed reached out to me and said there was an opportunity to add to the faculty. So I came in and created an Improvisation 1 and 2 course sequence. We added more people to the faculty and grew the curriculum and eventually got an undergraduate jazz major.

“I chaired the department for eight or nine years. Now I’m chairing the conducting department. I’m very glad that jazz has a table in the conducting department, because in a lot of schools it’s pretty separate. And I’m trying to get more women in the program. I run the Sisters in Jazz collegiate combo competition [for the Jazz Education Network].”

Speaking of women in jazz, Rowe released Momentum–Portraits Of Women In Motion, featuring Ingrid Jensen, Tia Fuller, Marion Hayden and Allison Miller to critical acclaim in 2019. Her other titles include Sylvan Way, Wishing Well, Denali Pass and Courage Music. And Rowe’s published compositions and arrangements have been performed and recorded by jazz ensembles and orchestras around the world, including the Vanguard Orchestra, BBC Jazz Orchestra, Berlin and NDR Radio Jazz Orchestras, and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Vinton’s Cove’s “Kind Folk” pointed to a special Kenny Wheeler connection. Rowe met the late trumpeter/composer at Banff in the mid-’90s. “We played his Sweet Time Suite from Music For Large and Small Ensembles with the big band. As for Vinton’s Cove, I was listening to his 1997 album Angel Song [“Kind Folk” being one of the tunes], and was reminded of how much I loved it. Hearing Kenny play his music has had such a profound influence on me. And, yeah, playing the suite with him standing next to me, I’ll never forget it as long as I live.”

Another, earlier encounter had a similar effect on Rowe: working with the great pianist Marian McPartland.

“I got hooked up with Marian when I was in my master’s program at Eastman School of Music in the early ’80s,” says Rowe. “My teacher/mentor Ray Wright had her in as a guest artist. He had me write something for her, and she subsequently asked me to do some arrangements; and then she asked me to transcribe two books of her solo piano. We have a scholarship in her name here at Michigan. She was extremely kind and supportive, and had me on her Piano Jazz show twice. It was nerve-wracking. But, of course, it was fun.” DB