Jazz Articles about Full Spectrum Jazz

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Full Spectrum Jazz: Pursuits

by Jack Bowers
January 10, 2007

For those who may have been wondering what those high-tech nerds in California's Silicon Valley do for kicks, here's at least a partial answer. For the past ten years, a number of them have been savoring life after hours as members of the Full Spectrum Jazz big band, a businesslike ensemble devoted to exploring various facets of the music from swing to fusion, Latin to shuffle, ballads to funk, and even rap. Pursuits is FSJ's third album, and like the ...

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Full Spectrum Jazz: Rayna's Dance

by Jack Bowers
July 25, 2003

A second helping of invigorating big-band jazz from the marvelous San Francisco-based ensemble Full Spectrum. Although the liner notes affirm that most (if not all) of FSJ’s members are full-time professionals in Silicon Valley’s high-tech corporations and part-time musicians who simply play for fun, you may have trouble believing that after hearing them perform on Rayna’s Dance, the ensemble’s second exemplary album.

As I wrote in reviewing FSJ’s earlier venture, the appropriately titled First Time Out, “there isn’t the least ...

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Full Spectrum Jazz: First Time Out

by Jack Bowers
April 1, 1999

So what do those hard–working computer nerds in California’s famed Silicon Valley do for R&R? Some whose talent and interest extend beyond mother boards, chips and software have gathered together with professional musicians in the San Francisco Bay area to establish Full Spectrum Jazz, a driving big band whose broad repertoire encompasses blues, ballads, salsa and straight–ahead swing that spans more than 60 years in the evolution of the music. The three–year–old ensemble touches many of those bases on First ...