Album Notes

The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra (WJO) is a professional concert big band based in the Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. They do a frequently sold-out five-concert series every year as well as recordings, broadcasts and outdoor park concerts. The band features several top-level composer/arrangers whose work is heard on their recent self-titled album.

The WJO was founded in 1997 by artistic director Richard Gillis and saxophonist Sasha Boychouk. It has featured many heavy-duty guest artists during the subsequent eight seasons including: Bill Watrous, Bob Brookmeyer, Phil Nimmons, Cornelius Bumpus, Hugh Fraser, Kirk MacDonald, and several others.

Their debut album is composed entirely by members of the band and was produced by trombonist/composer/arranger Jeff Presslaff. The tunes range from classically swinging modern style of "Europa" to the funky edge of "The Chomsky Moan" to the exploratory "Something to Wash over Me". Jack Bowers writes in All about Jazz:

"On its self-titled debut album, the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra offers the listener the best of two possible worlds-a thinking person's big band that also swings. There's a lot happening in these ten original compositions, but the elaborate charts seldom interrupt the band's essential purpose, to present high-caliber music that is not only aesthetically pleasing but viscerally captivating as well."

The rest of this review is at: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=16796

Other reviews and info about the band are at www.winnipegjazzorchestra.com