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The Action Is The Juice

John Sneider

Label: Adhyâropa Records
Released: 2026
Duration: 00:50:10
Views: 77

Tracks

Of A Certain Age; Sepia; The Doomscroller; Operation FUBAR; The Action Is The Juice; Not Enough Night; Must Be Nice; Briar Rose; Malaise Lounge.

Personnel

Album Description

Adhyâropa Records is thrilled to announce The Action Is The Juice (ÂR00211), the new album by jazz trumpet virtuoso John ‘Scrapper’ Sneider. Teaming with fellow jazz luminaries including John Ellis, Gary Versace, Neal Caine, and Rudy Royston, Sneider’s newest release is a return to the virtuosity and intricate compositional acumen that has established him among jazz’s state of the art for decades.

From the liner notes by Leo Sidran:

When, in Michael Mann's 1995 film Heat, Tom Sizemore delivers the line "the action is the juice," it's one of those throwaway lines that somehow escapes the movie and takes on a life of its own. Over the years, the phrase has become shorthand among artists and craftspeople: The reward isn't waiting at the end of the work. The work itself is the reward.

After decades balancing a career as a trumpeter, composer, arranger and studio musician, Sneider has entered a particularly fertile period as a bandleader. Since returning to recording under his own name after turning fifty, each project has felt increasingly focused.

With The Action Is The Juice, Sneider set out to make an album that gives equal weight to writing and improvisation. The album's opening track, ‘Of A Certain Age,’ introduces that idea immediately. A galloping bass line, angular piano figure and declarative melody for trumpet and John Ellis' bass clarinet reveal an arranger's sensibility and ensemble conception. The solos are concise and convivial, each player extending the conversation a little further.

The song's title could just as easily describe the band itself. Ellis, pianist Gary Versace, bassist Neil Caine and drummer Rudy Royston are musicians who have reached a stage where precision and spontaneity reinforce one another. They move effortlessly between carefully shaped group playing and open exploration.

Sneider hears that same maturity in his own writing. "I feel like my writing is getting better," he says. "Maybe it took me 56 years to figure this out, but the tunes are bigger than my playing on the record."

It's a striking observation, particularly from an accomplished instrumentalist. These compositions are designed to generate interaction. Even the more straight-ahead pieces favor broad shapes over dense harmony.

At the same time, his years composing for film also leave their imprint throughout the album. There is an instinct for pacing, atmosphere and dramatic shape that gives many of these pieces a quietly cinematic quality. The title track draws inspiration from the muscular urban language of 1970s crime films, while ‘Operation FUBAR’ unfolds almost like a scene, balancing lightly crafted ensemble writing with collective, free improvisation.

Most of the music here was written specifically for this ensemble. The two exceptions reveal other facets of Sneider's musical life. David Poe's ‘Not Enough Night’ reflects a long friendship and shared songwriting sensibility, while ‘Sopia,’ first recorded on Seider's duo album Chinwag with Larry Goldings, returns here in a richer ensemble setting.

The Action Is The Juice captures a composer who has learned to trust simplicity, an improviser who understands the expressive power of restraint, and a band whose collective imagination brings every page vividly to life.

There's an unmistakable sense of purpose here, too. "I feel like I'm on the clock, he says. "While I have chops, I really wanna play and just... push it. You know?" The action is the juice.

Album uploaded by Adhyâropa Records