Jazz Articles

The Columbus Jazz Orchestra: The Colors Of Jazz

by Ken Hohman
March 25, 2007

With big bands back in fashion, there's no shortage of large ensemble jazz to be heard, even in the jazz hinterland of Ohio. With The Colors Of Jazz, the Columbus Jazz Orchestra gives the Buckeye State its due, drawing from a palette of traditional big band favorites, tastefully selected hard bop tunes and original compositions.

Led by versatile trumpeter and conductor Byron Stripling, the CJO swings confidently in the brassy tradition of Basie or Armstrong rather than the modern styles ...

Columbus Jazz Orchestra: The Colors of Jazz

by Jack Bowers
February 5, 2007

The Columbus Jazz Orchestra has passed its thirtieth anniversary with no visible sign of slowing down. On the contrary, the ensemble has gained new life and evinces a fresh spirit under artistic director Bryon Stripling, whose genial persona enlivens The Colors of Jazz and makes listening more fun than ever.

The sense of merriment is immediately clear on the frisky opener, “Sweet Georgia Brown, wherein Stripling not only sings but plays a down-home New Orleans-style trumpet, as he does later ...

The Columbus Jazz Orchestra: The Colors of Jazz

by David Rickert
January 13, 2007

It may come as a surprise, but the Columbus Jazz Orchestra has more season ticket holders that the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and it plays a series of concerts to packed houses every year. All this even in a town like Columbus, Ohio, which is not exactly known as a jazz mecca.

What is the secret of their success? Two things. First, artistic director Byron Stripling is dedicated to putting on an entertaining show instead of treating jazz as an ...

The Columbus Jazz Orchestra: Band at Work (Twenty-Five Years)

by Jack Bowers
March 1, 2000

The Columbus (Ohio) Jazz Orchestra (formerly known as the Jazz Arts Group of Columbus), still spry and flourishing after 25 years — quite an accomplishment for a community–based Jazz ensemble — has produced marvelous recordings in the past with such eminent guest artists as clarinetist Eddie Daniels and saxophonist Benny Golson. On Band at Work, which encompasses concert dates from 1989–98, the CJO is on its own and none the worse for it. Artistic director Ray Eubanks always has the ...