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Rob Parton
Rob Parton is Associate Professor of Jazz Trumpet and Chair of Jazz Studies at the University of North Texas where he teaches trumpet and the Two O’clock Lab Band. Prior to joining the faculty at UNT, he held positions at Capital University, Roosevelt University, and Chicago State University. A dedicated jazz educator, he has directed All-State Jazz Ensembles in twelve states as well as serving as a clinician at universities and high schools throughout the United States.
A versatile and in-demand trumpet player, Parton has been called on to perform or record the music of diverse composers from Karel Husa to Leonard Bernstein to Duke Ellington. He has performed with many of America’s major orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, to name a few. He has also performed as lead trumpet on numerous Broadway shows in the Midwest and with Grammy, Tony, and Academy Award-winning artists from Faith Hill to Natalie Cole to Tony Bennett. As a recording artist, he has performed on hundreds of recordings for national commercials and with various artists on Concord, Verity, Mark Records, Sea Breeze and Sony record labels.
While comfortable in various musical settings, be it jazz trio or brass quintet or as a soloist with larger ensembles, leading a professional big band is the area in which he has enjoyed the most acclaim. Founded in 1984, the Rob Parton Big Band has released eleven recordings, received three preliminary Grammy nominations, performed at the Midwest Clinic three times, at the International Trumpet Guild Conference, and at numerous jazz festivals featuring guest artists such as Lew Soloff, Conte Candoli, and Joe Williams. Dozens of the Band’s recordings and live videos can be found on YouTube.
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Rob Parton's Ensemble 9+: Relentless
by Jack Bowers
Rob Parton, who once led the Chicago area's marvelous JazzTech big band, has since moved on to other pursuits, namely mentoring the next generation of jazz trumpeters at the stellar University of North Texas Jazz Lab in Denton. Having released eleven widely acclaimed albums with the JazzTech band, Parton has pared the lineup to nine (plus) on Relentless, enlisting the skills and talents of colleagues at UNT and drawing on the large talent pool of first-call musicians in the Dallas-Fort ...
Continue ReadingRob Parton's Ensemble 9+: Relentless
by Troy Dostert
After many years in the Windy City, most notably as the leader of the JazzTech Big Band, trumpeter Rob Parton wanted a change of scenery, which brought him to the University of North Texas, where he joined the faculty in 2019. And of course, that meant he now had the opportunity to work with lots of premium large-ensemble talent, as the college has been an incubator for big-band jazz for decades. Many of Parton's colleagues from UNT and other stalwarts ...
Continue ReadingJosie Falbo: You Must Believe in Spring
by Howard Mandel
The first moments of Josie Falbo's You Must Believe in Spring sweep us into a lush soundscape, through a cinematic introduction, up close and intimately to her marvelous voice. Her voice is full, rich and pure top to bottom, fluid and shapely as anything imaginable, imparting true faith into lyrics valuing a lifetime's experience, acceptance, appreciation and hope. Josie Falbo gives voice to a heartening message, that like all 13 selections here issue sincerely from the glorious musical gifts she ...
Continue ReadingUNT Two O'Clock Lab Band: Long Way on a Blues
by Jack Bowers
The University of North Texas, generally recognized as home to one of the world's leading undergraduate Jazz Studies programs, is essentially set apart from others by the decisive proficiency of its various Lab Bands, led by the One O'Clock and Two O'Clock ensembles (there are half a dozen others). Each band has a large number of albums under its belt, dating back several decades, the most recent of which are the One O'Clock's Lab 2021 and this one, the Two ...
Continue ReadingJoshua Jern Jazz Orchestra: Lockdown
by Jack Bowers
After taking a pleasant and romantic Midnight Stroll in 2019, trumpeter/composer Joshua Jern's Chicago-based Jazz Orchestra (like almost everyone else) began a coronavirus-decreed Lockdown but has emerged two years later from that self-imposed hiatus swinging harder and more often than ever. As before, most compositions and all arrangements are by Jern; and as before, the orchestra performs them with ardor and panache. This time around, however, there is a formidable new “weapon" on two tracks ("A Stretch ...
Continue ReadingThe Rob Parton Big Band: Christmas Time Is Here
by Jack Bowers
The only plausible impetus for releasing an album of Christmas themes so close to the holiday itself is the inclusion of music that transcends the season and may be auditioned and appreciated throughout the year. Trombonist Chris McDonald accomplished that with his splendid album In the Mood for Christmas, and trumpeter Rob Parton has mirrored that success with the kaleidoscopic Christmas Time Is Here, a compilation he says was some twenty years in the making. The earliest tracks were recorded ...
Continue ReadingRob Parton: Rob Parton Quartet
by Jack Bowers
It's always a pleasure to welcome a new CD by the remarkably talented Chicago-based trumpeter Rob Parton, even one that is untitled and places Parton in a (mostly) quartet framework. The downside is that one can't hear Parton play lead trumpet, another area in which he excels, as any perusal of his superb (albeit recently demised) JazzTech Big Band would readily affirm.
Parton always recruited only the best available sidemen for his large ensemble, and the same is true here ...
Continue ReadingRob Parton Big Band CD Release Party Fitzgerald's In Berwyn IL
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Rob Parton
Rob Parton celebrates his ninth big band release on December 19th at 7:30pm at FitzGerald's Nightclub with “We'll Be Together Again". FitzGerald's is located at 6615 West Roosevelt Road in Berwyn IL. Very close to Chicago. About 20 minutes from the loop. ROB PARTON BIG BAND BIO The Rob Parton Big Band (RPBB), a 19 piece jazz ensemble celebrates and represents the best of the big band tradition with a modern and original sound. Through the creative arrangers within the ...
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Music
A Night in Tunisia
From: You Must Believe In SpringBy Rob Parton
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