Jazz Articles about Jeff Rupert

About Jeff Rupert

Album Review

Jeff Rupert Quartet: Sea Spell

Read "Sea Spell" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
July 8, 2026

John Coltrane, commenting on the remarkably silken tones generated by fellow tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, is said to have remarked, “We'd all sound that way if we could." Although Florida-based tenor Jeff Rupert is no Getz clone, the sound he produces on his latest album, Sea Spell, comes so close to mirroring Getz that the impression is downright astonishing, not to mention absolutely gorgeous. The kinship to Getz is most conspicuous in the upper register, which Rupert controls ...

Album Review

The Flying Horse Big Band: Unbridled

Read "Unbridled" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
December 20, 2025

On Unbridled, its ninth album to date, central Florida's admirable Flying Horse Big Band “meets veteran tenor saxophonist George Garzone" on four of seven numbers, starting with John Coltrane's exemplary jazz standard, “Giant Steps," arranged by the band's music director, Jeff Rupert. Garzone is showcased again on Michael Philip Mossman's handsome arrangement of Rupert's seductive “Pharaoh's Daughter," Lalo Schifrin's genial “Reflections" (neatly scored by Mark Taylor) and Slide Hampton's clever arrangement (borrowing phrases from “Giant Steps") of Coltrane's ...

Radio & Podcasts

Jeff Rupert, 3 Cohens, and Last Exit

by Jerome Wilson
April 23, 2025

This show features a wide variety of jazz musicians, such as Jeff Rupert, Bobby Kapp, 3 Cohens, Donald Byrd, and Last Exit. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic} 00:00 Mathis Picard “The Creation of the World" from Live at the Museum (Outside In) 00:53 Bobby Kapp “Trance Dance" from Synergy (Tweed Blvd) 4:38 Craig Davis “Opus No. 5" from Tone ...

Album Review

Jeff Rupert: It Gets Better

Read "It Gets Better" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 14, 2024

Florida-based tenor saxophonist Jeff Rupert leads a superlative quartet on It Gets Better, a graceful and charming album recorded September 2021 at the renowned Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey. While comparisons to other musicians are as a rule less than viable, the striking similarities between Rupert and the late jazz giant Stan Getz cannot simply be overlooked or ignored. As John Coltrane once said of Getz, “We'd all sound like that if we could." Not only can Rupert sound ...

Album Review

The Flying Horse Big Band: A Message From The Flying Horse Big Band

Read "A Message From The Flying Horse Big Band" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
January 3, 2024

The Message on the Florida-based Flying Horse Big Band's sixth album comes straight from the “messengers" themselves-- drummer Art Blakey's legendary Jazz Messengers, whose music is admirably presented here, and to whom the album is dedicated. Its ten songs were composed by members of the Jazz Messengers--Wayne Shorter, Hank Mobley, Horace Silver, Cedar Walton, Benny Golson--and two were re-scored for a large ensemble by former Messenger Michael Philip Mossman, with other charts by Mark Taylor (four), Harry ...

Album Review

The Jazz Professors: Blues and Cubes

Read "Blues and Cubes" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
July 31, 2022

Yes, the Florida-based Jazz Professors, as befits the name, are smart—but don't let that throw you. They also swing in the best jazz tradition, even though their fourth album, Blues and Cubes, was inspired by the art of Pablo Picasso. Unlike Picasso's works, however, there is scant abstraction here; the Professors embody far more bop than bemusement, more Blue Note than bohemian. As for day gigs, the Professors maintain theirs at the University of Central Florida in ...

Album Review

Nate Najar: Jazz Samba Pra Sempre

Read "Jazz Samba Pra Sempre" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
June 23, 2022

Pioneered by Brazilian guitarist Joao Gilberto and popularized by Baden Powell, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Roberto Menescal and others in the early '60s, the bossa nova sound resonated strongly with the American jazz audience, and the Stan Getz / Charlie Byrd album Jazz Samba (Verve Records, 1962) became one of the driving forces behind this genre. Guitarist Nate Najar, who was heavily influenced by the music of Byrd, unveils his fourteenth album as leader with Jazz Samba Pra Sempre (Jazz Samba ...