Claire Arenius has been actively performing in jazz for over 40 years. Her formative years were spent studying music at the University of Massachusetts where Archie Shepp and Max Roach were on faculty. She relocated to N.Y. after receiving a National Endowment Grant to study with master drummer Charli Persip which led to her joining trombonist/arranger Melba Liston’s group and to performances at Carnegie Hall, Seaport, Blues Alley, The Bottom Line, Jazzmobile, and other major jazz venues. She toured Europe as the drummer for guitar master Attila Zoller’s Trio, playing the major Jazz Festivals in Germany, Austria & Switzerland. She has also performed/recorded with many well-known jazz artists, including Archie Shepp, Marion Brown, Charles Neville, Tal Farlow, Barney Kessel, Ray Copeland, Slide Hampton, Karrin Allyson, Bobby Bradford, Lew Soloff, Mose Allison, Sheila Jordan & more. Claire has released a debut CD as a leader, “When Worlds Touch You”, featuring all her original compositions, with a trio including Eugene Uman & Thomson Kneeland. They were featured performing in South America at Medellin, Colombia‘s International Millennium Jazz Festival; and also at the Discover Jazz Festival in Burlington, VT. Also, her recent "Trio Essence", which included Yasko and Archie Kubota, features her original compositions, which will be released in the near future. In addition to performing & composing, Claire also serves as an educator as an adjunct faculty of music at Amherst College and at Smith College, as a regular faculty member for the Vermont Jazz Center Summer Workshops, and as adjudicator/clinician at the Holyoke Community College Jazz Festivals. She has been the producer/creator of the Jazz On The Mothership Series, a year-long weekly jazz series featuring local, national and international jazz artists, bringing jazz greats to the Western Massachusetts community and recently has created and performed with her new quintet, "Resonance" featuring her original compositions.