Westchester County lies just north of New York City and is home to a great number of extraordinary jazz musicians. The sixteen-piece Westchester Jazz Orchestra, heralded as “one of the most incredible jazz orchestras in the entire country” by JazzImprovNY, was created to showcase these professionals in their home county.
WJO, a nonprofit organization, performed its first concert at the Irvington Town Hall Theater on October 14, 2003. Now launching our seventh season, we have performed 30 season concerts and dozens of others around the County. We have also provided inspiration and instruction to hundreds of local jazz students.
The Orchestra was founded by Emily Tabin, WJO’s current Executive Director, and two musicians who left the band in 2004 and 2007 respectively. Mike Holober has been artistic director and conductor since January 2007.
WJO attained national recognition during 2007-08 with the release of our debut CD, All In. All In was named among the Best CDs of 2007 by JazzImprov and the Montreal Gazette and was a Top CD of WBGO-FM, the major jazz radio station in the New York metropolitan area, from December 2007 through April 2008. Reviewers praise WJO as “first-rate,” “setting a standard in big band modern jazz,” “hugely impressive” and “exceptional,” while lauding the CD as “an expertly woven and thrilling collection,” “music that inspires and enlightens” and “well thought out and endlessly compelling.”
All In was among the most frequently played jazz CDs in the nation from January through April 2008. The CD zoomed onto the JazzWeek chart, a weekly account of the top 50 jazz CDs played by radio stations nationwide and in Canada, reaching a high of #4 the week of March 10. In a fitting cap to this achievement, All In placed #50 in JazzWeek’s Top 100 Jazz CDs of 2008.
Our annual season concerts are theme-based and feature world premieres of WJO-commissioned arrangements. With well over 125 such new arrangements in our book, we are making a significant contribution to the development of big band jazz. We have created fresh and modern takes on the compositions of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, George Gershwin, Horace Silver, Joe Henderson and John Scofield. Our commissions also include arrangements of works by more contemporary composers including Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone, the Beatles and Paul Simon, as well as by Latin and Brazilian masters.
During 2009-10, we will take a leap in developing our artistic identity as we commission and perform our first original work, a three-movement suite to be composed by Mike Holober. We have received a grant from NYSCA to fund this commission and the world premiere will take place on April 10, 2010.
WBGO Music Program Director and Morning Show Host Gary Walker hosts our concerts. Guest artists have included John Scofield, John Patitucci, Houston Person, Janis Siegel, Kate McGarry, Dick Oatts, Nicole Pasternak and Loryn Altsher.
Our advisory board members are trumpeter Randy Brecker, saxophonist Joe Lovano, pianist/composer Jim McNeely, bassist John Patitucci, saxophonist Houston Person, bassist Rufus Reid as well as Gary Walker.
In our education programs, we conduct multi-day residencies and one-day workshops at high schools across Westchester. We have also adjudicated, taught and performed at multi-school jazz festivals and brought financially disadvantaged youth their first live jazz concerts. New for 2009-10, we are developing a workshop for teachers as well as a program for elementary school students designed to encourage more girls to take up jazz instruments.
“Do something for yourself – catch ‘em live,” says Gary Walker. “It’s the art and passion of jazz at its finest.”
