Jazz Articles about Dan Bonsanti

About Dan Bonsanti

Album Review

The 14 Jazz Orchestra: Islands

by Jack Bowers
August 12, 2023

The music on these Islands is almost as sizzling as the summer weather in sun-drenched Miami, thanks to composer/arranger Dan Bonsanti's Florida-based, world-class The 14 Jazz Orchestra, whose fourth album provides yet another textbook lesson in the art of colorful and swinging big-band rhetoric. Bonsanti formed the ensemble as a rehearsal band in 2013, stocking it for the most part with former students at Miami's prestigious Frost School of Music to give teachers and students a forum ...

Album Review

Dan Bonsanti and the 14 Jazz Orchestra: Islands

Read "Islands" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
August 6, 2023

"Islands" from Dan Bonsanti is a tour de force consisting of eleven unique selections, colorful textured arrangements, and outstanding ensemble and solo playing. The fare includes straight-ahead bop, to calypso, film and fusion, all presented by a highly-energized ensemble of Miami-affiliated greats and guest greats. The opener, McCoy Tyner's “Man from Tanganyika" is an ultra-rhythmic grabber, offering fine solos and polyrhythmic burn. “Islands," from Mike Mainieri's pen, is a catchy, upbeat calypso with an extravagant middle section. ...

Album Review

Dan Bonsanti: Cartoon Bebop

Read "Cartoon Bebop" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
February 9, 2021

The malicious coronavirus pandemic that brought most of the world to its knees in 2020 has spawned the use of several reanimated words including “virtual," whose meaning is “sort of here but not really," as in virtual video chats, conference calls, exhibits, films and even musical performances. “Virtual" has spread its tentacles into almost every walk of life including jazz, via YouTube and other creative channels. And now, it seems, to big bands as well. Cartoon Bebop, the third album ...

Radio & Podcasts

Count Basie & Kenny Drew

by Joe Dimino
September 19, 2019

Simply becuase we love that large and needed big band sound, we begin episode 612 of Neon Jazz with Dan Bonsanti leading his group of masterful musicians with their take on the jazz. From there, we zig zag around the jazz universe to show listeners where we have been and how far we are going wtih the art form. From the new cats like Lafayette Gilchrist to the sounds of Kenny Drew. We strive to give you the audio thoughts ...

Album Review

The 14 Jazz Orchestra: The Future Ain't What It Used to Be

Read "The Future Ain't What It Used to Be" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
January 1, 2019

The Future Ain't What It Used to Be, the second album by South Florida's impressive The 14 Jazz Orchestra, is by and large like its precursor: swinging, straight-down-the-fairway big-band jazz underlined by leader Dan Bonsanti's admirable charts. As before, each of the songs was written by a blue-chip composer, from Chick Corea and Antonio Carlos Jobim to Wayne Shorter and Eliane Elias, and as before, every member of the ensemble is an alumnus of the University of Miami's well-respected Frost ...

Album Review

The 14 Jazz Orchestra: Nothing Hard Is Ever Easy

Read "Nothing Hard Is Ever Easy" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 15, 2015

The 14 Jazz Orchestra, based in south Florida, is comprised of thirteen accomplished sidemen (all alumni of the University of Miami) and arranger / conductor Dan Bonsanti. On its debut recording, Nothing Hard Is Ever Easy, the ensemble cast its net wide to gather in compositions by Billy Strayhorn, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Charlie Parker, Chick Corea, Paul McCartney, John Scofield and Florida native Jaco Pastorius, among others, each one marshaled with rigorous care by Bonsanti. Saxophonist ...