The New Jersey Jazz Society’s Jersey Jazz magazine recently named Jazz Studies student Kristin Field (BM’26) their “Rising Star.” Field, set to graduate in May with a BM degree, is a saxophone player, who, as she tells Jersey Jazz, has “always gravitated more toward lyrical rather than technical playing. I always find it beautiful when players almost sing through the horn.”
At 7 p.m. March 10, the Kristin Field Quartet will perform at Tavern on George as the Emerging Artist in the New Brunswick Jazz Project’s “In the Key of Akiko Women in Jazz” series celebrating Women’s History Month. And at 1 p.m. March 29, Field will present her senior recital at Shindell Choral Hall here on campus. All student recitals are free and open to the public.
“At first, when I was in early high school, I didn’t know if I wanted to go to Rutgers, because it was so close,” Field told Jersey Jazz. “But I did research, and I found that the faculty with the jazz program was world class. My first two years, I took lessons with Ralph Bowen. He has so much wisdom and so much knowledge. It’s been truly a blessing to work with this faculty.” Field has also studied at Rutgers with saxophonist Abraham Burton.
Field is also a theatrical composer and pit instrumentalist. Last summer, she served as the writer, composer, and lyricist for Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Unofficial Musical, based on a video game. The musical won the New Jersey Association of Community Theaters (NJACT) Perry Award for Outstanding Production of an Original Musical.
Read more about Field in the March 2026 issue of Jersey Jazz magazine.