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Most of the basis for the sextet's music lies in traditional jazz. But the group prides itself in creating and performing good music regardless of genre. From the traditional styles of originals "Halfway Out" and "Billy or Bud" to the modernized arrangements of classics "If I Only Had a Brain" and "Softly As a Morning Sunrise," The Phoenix Jazz Project provides a wide variety of entertaining music. Having only been in existence for a few years, The Phoenix Jazz Project has already wowed audiences from Pittsburgh to Prague. A June 2005 tour to Eastern Europe including Budapest's Cotton Club and Vienna's Jazzland produced standing ovations and rave reviews. That tour also included stops in Prague, Czech Republic, Brataslava, Slovakia and Krakow, Poland where the band performed and conducted clinics. A December 2005 tour to Belgium yielded more performances, clinics, and standing ovations. This new Pittsburgh band already has the locals raving about their "New York Sound." Their current project has pianist/composer/arranger Thomas Glovier writing and arranging classics for a collaboration cd with The Traverser Saxophone Quartet due to be released summer 2008.
With influences ranging from Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner & Keith Jarrett (pianist, Tom Glovier); to John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, & Earth Wind and Fire (saxophonist, Curtis Johnson); to Eric Dolphy and Charlie Parker (saxophonist, Mike Sakash); to Tierney Sutton, Ella Fitzgerald & Dianne Reeves (vocalist, Jessie Glovier), The Phoenix Jazz Project performs its material with excellence. Jason Birch (drums) and Bob Insko (bass) provide a fresh, creative approach that is the perfect compliment to the rest of the group.
Rise up and catch them if you can |
