Andrew Esch

Gardyn Jazz Orchestra: Vinyl Brews

by Jack Bowers
December 10, 2024

Alto saxophonist Jon C. Gardner not only leads the piquant and powerful Philadelphia-based Gardyn Jazz Orchestra, he also wrote and arranged every song on Vinyl Brews, an in-concert performance recorded in December 2023 at Chris' Jazz Café in the City of Brotherly Love. There are half a dozen tunes in all, three of which are presented a second time as alternate takes. The album's rather unusual title denotes the fact that every one of Gardner's impressive charts, he writes, “has ...