Supersax and the music of Bird

The idea for our second season concert, Bird in the Reeds, began with my love of the sound of the saxophone quintet. I was reminded of this instrumentation when we were playing some of the saxophone quintet arrangements from the Terry Gibbs Vibes on Velvet albums in...

Isfahan from the Far East Suite

I remember many, many years ago we were performing Such Sweet Thunder, also known as the Shakespearean Suite, composed by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. A musician in the audience was talking to me after the concert and said, “Now I understand why Sandy...

Bill Evans and Horace Silver – a perfect pairing

For our first concert I started not with the music but with the instrumentation. I’ve always had a love affair with the nonet – a nine-piece ensemble that’s not as large as a big band in size but still has a substantial sound. An ensemble of this...

Amad from the Far East Suite

Last season we paid tribute to the great Billy Strayhorn who was best known as Duke Ellington’s collaborator. We performed an entire program of music composed by Strayhorn and Ellington in a concert entitled “Lush Life.” We’re thrilled to share...

How the Ottawa Jazz Orchestra came to be

It’s hard to believe that the OJO has been running now for thirteen seasons. It’s arguably even more than that. Way back in 2005, I presented a single concert entitled “The Magic of Miles Davis” at the NAC Fourth Stage as an initial concert in...