Jazz Articles about Chris VanLeeuwen

About Chris VanLeeuwen

Album Review

Rob Parton's Ensemble 9+: Relentless

Read "Relentless" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
September 4, 2024

Rob Parton, who once led the Chicago area's marvelous JazzTech big band, has since moved on to other pursuits, namely mentoring the next generation of jazz trumpeters at the stellar University of North Texas Jazz Lab in Denton. Having released eleven widely acclaimed albums with the JazzTech band, Parton has pared the lineup to nine (plus) on Relentless, enlisting the skills and talents of colleagues at UNT and drawing on the large talent pool of first-call musicians in the Dallas-Fort ...

Album Review

Rob Parton's Ensemble 9+: Relentless

Read "Relentless" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
August 29, 2024

After many years in the Windy City, most notably as the leader of the JazzTech Big Band, trumpeter Rob Parton wanted a change of scenery, which brought him to the University of North Texas, where he joined the faculty in 2019. And of course, that meant he now had the opportunity to work with lots of premium large-ensemble talent, as the college has been an incubator for big-band jazz for decades. Many of Parton's colleagues from UNT and other stalwarts ...