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Bobby Spellman
Born and raised in the Greater Boston Area, Bobby was exposed to a wide variety of musical styles from an early age, eventually gravitating toward the free jazz and improvised music prevalent in the Boston jazz scene. Bobby earned a degree in Philosophy before pursuing a Master’s degree in jazz trumpet performance at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he had the opportunity to study improvisation with John McNeil and Jerry Bergonzi, ensemble performance with Dave Holland, Bob Moses, and Joe Morris, and George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization with Ben Schwendener. Bobby's interest in the Lydian Chromatic Concept led him to continue his studies in jazz theory after graduating from NEC, and he continues to explore new paradigms in music theory in order to integrate disparate styles of music and bridge the gap between tonal and atonal musics.
Bobby currently lives in Bushwick, Brooklyn with his wife, woodwind doubler Emily Pecoraro, and two cats. Bobby regularly performs on trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, conch shell, and the rare and quizzical soprano trombone. He teaches private lessons in brass and improvisation throughout New York City, and has taught masterclasses in jazz theory at the collegiate level. Bobby is currently preparing to release a full-length album of new music with his "Revenge of the Cool" Nonet, scheduled to be released in the fall of 2019.
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Ines Velasco: A Flash of Cobalt Blue

by Angelo Leonardi
Dopo la laurea con lode al Berklee College in composizione e varie esperienze di orchestrazione nell'ultimo decennio (Snarky Puppy, Metropole Orkest, Gregory Porter, Avenged Sevenfold, NY Philharmonic String Quartet, la National Jazz Orchestra of México), la messicana Ines Velasco debutta con un proprio album in veste di compositrice e bandleader. Il lavoro è stato ispirato ed è strettamente connesso alle poesie di Jorge Esquinca (tratte dal volume Un brillo azul cobalto) che le recita in ogni brano dell'album. ...
Continue ReadingEd Palermo: Prog vs. Fusion: A War of the Ages

by Jack Bowers
Well, if it walks like a big band and talks like a big band...chances are it's a big band, even though, in the case of Ed Palermo's New York-based 18-piece ensemble, it neither walks nor talks much like any other big band on planet earth. On Prog Vs. Fusion, Palermo casts aside many established harmonic principles in favor of fomenting and supervising a colossal struggle between the powerful forces of progressive rock and fusion. In doing so, ...
Continue ReadingThe Ed Palermo Big Band: Prog vs. Fusion: A War of the Ages

by Kyle Simpler
Sometimes musicians with serious chops take their music a little too seriously. Others, however, manage to combine talent and humor in a way that proves infectious. The Ed Palermo Big Band is one of the best examples of the latter. With albums drawing on such diverse influences as Frank Zappa, Paul Butterfield, and King Crimson, Palermo delivers a foundation of solid jazz infused with a spirit of experimentation and an eye for the absurd. With Prog vs. Fusion: A War ...
Continue ReadingAcceleration Due To Gravity: Jonesville

by Pierre Giroux
Bassist, composer and arranger Moppa Elliott's uniquely-titled nonet Acceleration Due To Gravity presents Jonesville a gravity- defying jazz odyssey. It pays a captivating homage to influential bassist Sam Jones by weaving a sonic tapestry which transcends the boundaries of conventional jazz. In this brief seven-track, twenty-one-minute outing, four compositions are by Elliott, with the remainder being Sam Jones' originals. The members of the octet who participated in this unusual musical excursion are trumpeter Bobby Spellman, trombonist Dave Taylor, alto saxophonist ...
Continue ReadingMoppa Elliott's Acceleration Due To Gravity: Jonesville

by Mike Jurkovic
Whatever 'script renegade bassist/composer Moppa Elliot takes on a daily basis, he should be made to share with the rest of the world. Whatever that tonic, whatever that pill, whatever that gumbo scented elixir is, let us have it now. Elliot may not want to open up his private stash to the public, but he sure knows how to let it fly in the music he and his nonet--Acceleration Due to Gravity--put forth on the rightly raucous and ...
Continue ReadingBobby Spellman: Cool Revenge

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JazzWax by Marc Myers
The birth of the cool took place at 14 West 55th Street in Manhattan in 1947. There, at arranger Gil Evans's bare-bones apartment, musicians constrained by bebop's small-group limitations began meeting to develop a new sound. Inspired by Claude Thornhill's sighing sectional approach to orchestral jazz, the revolutionary arrangers included Evans, Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis, George Russell, Miles Davis and John Carisi. At the time, Davis was performing and recording with Charlie Parker, one of bebop's chief architects. Evans and ...
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From: JonesvilleBy Bobby Spellman