Jazz Articles about Rodger Fox

Rodger Fox Wellington Jazz Orchestra: The Capitol Sessions

by Jack Bowers
September 7, 2013

In July 2012, trombonist Rodger Fox brought his Wellington Jazz Orchestra all the way from New Zealand to Los Angeles to record at the famed Capitol Studios, thus confirming Fox's confidence in the ensemble--one doesn't undertake a trip like that accompanied by musicians whose talents are less than exemplary--while producing an album that is superlative from start to finish, underlining the fact that splendid big bands can be found these days in every corner of the world. ...

The Rodger Fox Big Band: No Exit

by Jack Bowers
September 27, 2007

The superb Rodger Fox Big Band has twice been honored with New Zealand's award for Best Jazz Recording of the Year (2001, 2005), and if No Exit doesn't make it a threesome the judges may have to double-check to make sure their ears and taste buds are working properly. While it may be difficult for some to concede that one of the world's foremost big bands resides half a world away from the birthplace of jazz, it is no less ...

Rodger Fox with the New Zealand School of Music Big Band: Rodger Fox Presents Ray Woolf

by Jack Bowers
August 20, 2007

Here's a splendid album from New Zealand that works two ways: as singer-with-big-band or big-band-with-singer. The singer is Ray Woolf, described by producer/music director/trombonist Rodger Fox as that country's “consummate performer/vocalist/entertainer. The band is from the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington, ably conducted by the selfsame Rodger Fox.

Woolf definitely lives up to his billing, belting out a dozen songs from the Great American Songbook and elsewhere in the manner of a Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin or Mel ...

Rodger Fox and Brian Smith: The LA-NZ Connection

by Jack Bowers
December 31, 2005

Jazz truly is a universal language, a premise that is proven again on this spirited post bop studio date by two of New Zealand's most celebrated musicians, trombonist Rodger Fox and saxophonist Brian Smith, backed by a blue-chip West Coast rhythm section--pianist Bill Cunliffe, guitarist Larry Koonse, bassist Tom Warrington, and drummer Joe La Barbera (with Erna Ferry, another charismatic New Zealander, adding seductive vocals on two tracks).

Fox, who leads New Zealand's foremost big band, and Smith, who honed ...

The Rodger Fox Big Band: A Rare Connection

by Jack Bowers
February 19, 2005

Last year was the thirtieth for trombonist Rodger Fox's world-class big band from faraway New Zealand, and the celebration was marked by the release of yet another mouth-watering banquet of swinging, straight-ahead jazz from Down Under. This is either the band's sixteenth or seventeenth album, depending on whether one includes Devil May Care, a session from four years ago on which the ensemble backs vocalist Erna Ferry. I've missed all but the last five but don't aim to make that ...

Rodger Fox: Back to Being One

by Jack Bowers
February 1, 1999

Here’s a consistently colorful, invariably swinging and completely captivating quartet date led by one of the finest trombonists you’ve probably never heard. Rodger Fox, best known as the foreman of New Zealand’s most prominent big band (track eight on this disc, “Xtra Juicy,” is also the name of the ensemble’s newest release), displays the brash awareness and awesome chops that are the hallmark of such celebrated ’bonemeisters as Carl Fontana, Frank Rosolino, Jimmy Knepper, Slide Hampton, Urbie Green, Phil Wilson ...