SRJO Live

swinging mainstream jazz
John Killoch, Mainly Big Bands

The jazz scene in Seattle has a richness and depth that is rare. Not only is there a wealth of fine musicians who have gained recognition throughout the nation and around the globe, but also a lineage of jazz writers and players that began in the 1920s, and reached a golden age in the 1940s when Seattle enjoyed a flowering of jazz culture centered around the clubs and dance halls of Jackson Street. This period produced such greats as Ray Charles, Ernestine Anderson, Dick Wilson, Quincy Jones and Buddy Catlett. Since then, the torch has consistently been passed. Sixty years later, there is still a major jazz scene, supported by many clubs, large, enthusiastic audiences, and populated by both veteran and young players and writers who carry on Seattle's own, unique jazz tradition.

The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra (SRJO) is an award-winning, 17-piece big band comprised of many of the region's leading jazz soloists and band leaders. The SRJO is the Northwest's only permanent ensemble dedicated to the accurate and historically observant performance of the great works of big band jazz. Drummer Clarence Acox, nationally recognized director of bands at Seattle's Garfield High School, and saxophonist/arranger Michael Brockman, long-time faculty member at the University of Washington School of Music, founded the SRJO in 1995. As early as 1988, however, many of the players had assembled for a now-annual concert of the Sacred Music of Duke Ellington, presented by Seattle's Earshot Jazz Society. A 1992 "Evening of Ellington" program, presented by Brockman at the University of Washington's Meany Theater, brought together players not normally included in the sacred concerts, and featured new transcriptions by Brockman of classic Ellingtonia.

Production Info:

Produced by MICHAEL BROCKMAN and CLARENCE ACOX
Recording Engineer: JIM WILKE, Hatchcover Productions
Recorded on location
Mastering Engineer: STEVE SHERRARD, MusicTech/DBAR Productions
Photography by JEAN ALEXANDER, JIM WILKE, ROGER GALLOWAY, SANJAY BEERY, STEVE ROBINSON
Cover design & layout by JOHN BISHOP/OriginArts

Reviews of SRJO Live

All About Jazz (Jason West)
Like Shackleton's epic voyage of survival in Antarctica, one struggles to imagine the time, resources, social skill and organizational acumen necessary to lead a jazz orchestra. Even more mindboggling is the idea of stepping into the shoes of Duke Ellington, Count Basie or Jimmie Lunceford, transcribing their classic big band recordings, and perfor ...

All About Jazz (Jack Bowers)
I usually have mixed emotions about repertory Jazz orchestras. On the one hand, they're not playing anything I've not heard before; on the other, the music that comprises the very bedrock of Jazz certainly deserves to be heard again and again. I suppose that, when all is said and done, one's response to revisiting the music of yesteryear depends on ...

Mainly Big Bands (John Killoch)
A constant source of amazement to me (non-American), is just how many towns, large and small can present one or more outstanding big bands. Naively I used to assume that LA, NY, Chicago etc., would absorb all the hundreds of excellent who used to populate yesterday's great bands: Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton etc. It does not take much thou ...