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One for All

One for All is a jazz sextet formed in 1997. The band comprises Eric Alexander (tenor saxophone), Jim Rotondi (trumpet), Steve Davis (trombone), David Hazeltine (piano), John Webber (bass) and Joe Farnsworth (drums). The band has been compared to 1960s-era Blue Note jazz and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.

The cooperative sextet One For All was formed in 1996 in NYC at the legendary jazz club Augie's (now Smoke). Collectively, the band has forged a powerful, yet sleek sound which has become synonymous with hard-swinging, straight-ahead modern jazz. Individually, each member of One For All has earned a sterling reputation not only as a soloist/bandleader (via solo recordings and tours), but as a top-shelf, first-call player on the NYC scene.

As a band, One For All has worked hard to achieve their own unique sound, while at the same time placing a premium on assimilating the tradition from the masters. The group's members have played with a broad range of jazz icons over the years, including... Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, Jackie McLean, George Coleman, Harold Mabern, Cecil Payne, James Moody, Jimmy Cobb, Louis Hayes, Jimmy Heath, Slide Hampton, Jon Faddis, Charles Earland, Lou Donaldson, Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard, Pharoah Sanders, Johnny Griffin and Chick Corea.

Since 1997, the band has recorded 12 CD's and continues to garner rave reviews for their live performances in clubs, concert halls and festivals around the world. One For All has also recorded extensively for the Venus and Criss Cross Jazz labels.

One For All: Big George

by C. Andrew Hovan
February 9, 2025

The world has changed dramatically since the end of the 20th century, the time period when the jazz collective One For All began to forge their stamp on the history of hard bop. Using the club Augie's on New York's upper west side as their stomping grounds, the group would make their debut recording at the beginning of 1987. The Broadway club would eventually become home of Smoke, one of the gems of the city's jazz scene and continued purveyor ...

Album Review

One for All: Big George

Read "Big George" reviewed by Joshua Weiner

by Joshua Weiner
June 5, 2024

Smoke Sessions Records, based out of NYC's Smoke Jazz Club, has a fascinating recording model: artists play a few nights at the club, take a day off, and then go into a studio such as the famous Sear Sound to record their repertoire for release. They been putting out some excellent material, the latest of which is the first album in seven years from the sextet One for All. The title, Big George, reveals what sets this one apart from ...

Liner Notes

One For All: Blueslike

by C. Andrew Hovan
February 13, 2024

As the timeworn adage goes, sometimes the best things come from situations where one is asked to function in less than ideal circumstances. When you have little time to analyze things and go with pure instincts, there's an air of veracity and spontaneity to the results that is seldom arrived at by any other means. Although the hard bop collective One For Allhas forged a shared identity through regular gigs and a growing catalog of recordings for several labels, including ...

Liner Notes

One For All: Live at Smoke Vol.1

by C. Andrew Hovan
February 13, 2024

Aside from the musical fireworks that make the enclosed sides noteworthy, there are additional factors that mark Live at Smoke as a major event. For one thing, this “on location" recording is one of the rare live dates to grace the Criss Cross catalog. Furthermore, it serves as a perfect summation up to this point of One For All's musical fortunes as heard in the same venue that fostered the ensemble's very formation. Back in the mid-'80s, drummer Joe Farnsworth, ...

Album Review

One for All: The Third Decade

Read "The Third Decade" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 16, 2016

Hard to believe it will be twenty years ago next year that the hard bop ensemble One For All debuted with Too Soon To Tell on the fledgling Sharp Nine label. Formed as a group that regularly played together at an uptown Broadway club called Augie's, each member was just at the start of their own budding careers. Even today, it continues to be a surprise that these gentlemen still find the time to assemble for the occasional record date ...

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New York Beat

A Jazz Marriage: Smoke and One For All

by Nick Catalano
May 21, 2011

After 12 years of classic jazz bookings and extraordinary patron loyalty, Smoke deserves legendary status right next to Birdland (the old club of the 50's), Basin Street, The Village Vanguard, The Blue Note, and a couple of the old 52 St. clubs. In addition to having unique intimacy, a special staff who could give a seminar in how to run a jazz club and a sensible food and drink menu, Smoke has had the prescience to embrace the hottest hard ...

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Extended Analysis

One for All: Incorrigible

by Sean Coughlin
May 28, 2010

One for All Incorrigible Jazz Legacy Productions 2010

One for All's Incorrigible showcases some of the best original writing the group has had in its 14 releases. It no longer sounds like a bunch of “young lions" thrown together in a recording studio. Cohesive and interdependent, these musicians bring out the best in one another, resulting in an album filled with thoughtful communication and high energy improvisation. “Bewitched, Bothered, ...

Performance / Tour

World-Renowned Smoke Jazz Club Announces March Concert Line-Up From One For All’s Album Release Celebration To Leading Female Artists Allison Miller And Mary Stallings

Source: AMT Public Relations
February 1, 2024

Rated the #1 jazz club in New York City (Secret NYC), SMOKE Jazz Club welcomes both legendary and emerging jazz artists in March. The month begins with two of the great jazz artists of the past 50 years: pianist George Cables leads his Quartet (March 6-10) followed by tenor saxophonist George Coleman performing as special guest and influence of One of All’s new album Big George (March 14-17) on the club’s eponymous label SMOKE Sessions Records. Women’s History Month culminates ...
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Recording

All-Star Collective One for All Set to Release "Incorrigible" on Jazz Legacy Productions, April 6

Source: DL Media
March 5, 2010

ALL-STAR COLLECTIVE ONE FOR ALL SET TO RELEASE INCORRIGIBLEON JAZZ LEGACY PRODUCTIONS, APRIL 6ALBUM SERVES AS LABEL DEBUT

Their band name suggests the Three Musketeers of 17th century Paris -- inseparable friends who lived by the motto “one for all, all for one" -- though it's probably more accurate to think of these six kindred spirits as the Rat Pack of jazz. Given their longevity, they might also be considered the Rolling Stones of jazz. After more than 13 ...
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