BFM Jazz Recording Artist John Daversa's Progressive Big Band Receives Three Grammy Nominations For "Kaleidoscope Eyes: Music Of The Beatles"

Grammy Nominations

• Best Large Jazz Ensemble
• Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Capella (“Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”)
• Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals (“Do You Want To Know a Secret” featuring Renee Olstead)

Internationally renowned trumpet player, performer, composer, arranger, bandleader and educator ((John Daversa)) has received the most impressive new credit to his resume to date—three-time GRAMMY nominee, for his widely critically acclaimed and perhaps most ambitious musical undertaking—THE DAVERSA PROGRESSIVE BIG BAND'S RECORDING, Kaleidoscope Eyes: Music Of The Beatles.

Kaleidoscope Eyes explores the vast catalog of The Beatles through Daversa's imaginative, genre-fusing arrangements. It highlights a cast of 60 brilliant musicians from big band to jazz choir and strings, as well as featured renowned vocalists Renee Olstead and Katisse.

In additional to receiving three GRAMMY nominations, the critically-acclaimed album was also awarded seven Global Music Awards 



Kaleidoscope Eyes is John’s fourth studio album and third released on BFM Jazz. His first studio album as a sole leader was Live at Catalina's. Junk Wagon: The Big Band Album on BFM was released in 2011 to high critical acclaim, winning Best in Show and Awards of Excellence in Creativity/Originality and Production in the Global Music awards. This was followed by Artful Joy in 2012, which featured Gretchen Parlato and Bob Mintzer. As an educator, he is currently Chair of the Department of Studio Music and Jazz at the prestigious Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, where he also conducts the award-winning Frost Concert Jazz Band. Daversa joined the Frost faculty in August 2013. He previously taught at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and University of Southern California (USC). He is a winner of the Herb Alpert Award, David Joel Miller Award, the National Trumpet Competition, the ITG Jazz Soloist Competition, and was a finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. His distinctive musical perspective has been a passport to performances on world stages such as The Today Show, Late Night with David Letterman, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Monterey Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Montreux Festival, and the Playboy Jazz Festival, to name a few. He has also performed or recorded with artists such as Fiona Apple, Burt Bacharach, Michael Bublé, Dori Caymi, Joe Cocker, Andraé Crouch, Sheryl Crow, Dr. Dre, Bob Mintzer Big Band, and The Yellowjackets..

“Daversa's fearless exploration..takes him off the beaten path as he creates bold and ballsy big band music for the modern epoch." —Tony Gieske, Los Angeles Times.

Daversa recently performed the Kaleidoscope Eyes Show featuring Renee Ostead at Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood CA on December 11 to a SRO crowd.

Upcoming Shows

December 22-25: The Cotton Club—Tokyo, Japan (Daversa Small Band including Renee Olstead)

January 15: The Baked Potato—Studio City, CA (Daversa Big Band)

January 26: Festival Miami, Frost Concert Jazz Band/Guzman Hall (Dizzy Gillespie Tribute featuring Jon Faddis, Jimmy Heath, Ignacio Berroa, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Martin Bejerano)

January 27: Milestones Youth Jazz Workshop/Fresno, CA (Daversa Small Band)

January 28: Stanford Jazz Consortium—San Francisco, CA (Daversa Small Band)

January 30: Yoshi’s—Oakland, CA (Kaleidoscope Eyes Show featuring Maiya Sykes and Katisse)