Artist description The Knoxville Jazz Orchestra is a professional sixteen piece jazz ensemble. The group is comprised of 5 saxes (with doubles on flute, clarinet, and bass clarinet), four bones, four trumpets, piano, bass, and drums. It is the only regularly performing professional ensemble of its kind in the entire Southeastern United States. The group's repertoire consists of arrangements from the libraries of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Thad Jones, Bob Brookmeyer, as well as several arrangements from the group's director, Vance Thompson.

Music Style Jazz - Big Band, Large Jazz Ensemble,

Musical Influences Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Thad Jones, Gil Evans, Bob Brookmeyer, Maria Schnieder, Bill Mobley.

Artist History The group was formed in August of 1999 as a "just for fun" band, but has quickly become one of the area's most ambitious professional ensembles. Within its first year of existence, the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra has hosted guest artists Marvin Stamm and Ed Soph, has been featured on WUOT's "Improvisations" with Ashley Capps, WBIR-TV's "Live at Five" (two seperate appearances), and had feature stories in the Knoxville News Sentinel, the Metro Pulse, the Daily Beacon, and the Maryville Daily Times. Additionally, the group is now making plans for a European tour for July 2001 which will include appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival, and the Nice Jazz Festival.

Group Members SAXOPHONES/WOODWINDS - Mark Tucker, David King, Bill Scarlett, Jimmy Mann, Tom Johnson. TROMBONES - Don Hough, Tom Lundberg, Darrell Wyatt, Brad McDougall. TRUMPETS - Michael Wyatt, Stewart Cox, Tom Fox, Thomas Heflin, Vance Thompson. RHYTHM - Mark Boling, guitar; Bill Swann, piano; Rusty Holloway, bass; Keith Brown, Drums.

Press Reviews "These songs are incredible examples of jazz's archetypical sound. What many of us think of when we think of jazz. And the performances are just as good. [The band] swings all the way through, delicately when needed, energetically at the right time. It shouldn't be a surprise that Knoxville's jazz players could capture the subtle mood shifts of these songs so well, but it is. And that's a pleasant revelation." METRO PULSE

Location Knoxville, TN - USA

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