Jazz Articles about Blue Wisp Big Band

Blue Wisp Big Band: Tribute

by Edward Blanco
November 29, 2007

A legendary regional ensemble from Cincinnati, the Blue Wisp Big Band has, for the last twenty-five years, performed every Wednesday evening at the famed Blue Wisp Jazz Club in Cincinnati, owned and operated by Marjean Wisby until her passing in August 2006. The album pays Tribute to the memory of the late owner and also celebrates the music of jazz giants, among them Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson and Billy Strayhorn.

Having been around for a quarter ...

The Blue Wisp Big Band: A Night At The Wisp

by Russell Moon
February 3, 2004

The Blue Wisp Big Band is a 16 piece orchestra which has performed every Wednesday since 1980 at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club in Cincinnati, Ohio, with few changes in personnel. A Night At The Wisp is the band's first recording of a performance at that venue. The band is led by saxophonists Larry Dickson and Joe Gaudio.

This orchestra really swings. I know of no other album whose whole is so much greater than the sum of its parts. ...

Blue Wisp Big Band: 20th Anniversary

by Dave Nathan
September 1, 2001

Perhaps setting a record for longevity among contemporary big bands, the Cincinnati based0Blue Wisp Big Band celebrates its 29th anniversary with a release of exciting arrangements of tunes that, for the most part, are composed by well-known musicians. There are cuts by Steve Allen, Bill Evans, Bob Brookmeyer among others, wrapped in captivating arrangements by Matt Harris and Larry Dickson. Not satisfied with simply knee jerk imitations of approaches taken by others, the music has been given a new look ...

Blue Wisp Big Band: 20th Anniversary

by Jim Santella
July 1, 2001

The program opens with a Matt Harris tune that resembles “All Blues." Big band arrangements by Harris, Al Kiger, Larry Dickson, and Steve Allee provide a format that allows plenty of room for swinging. This ensemble gets together every Wednesday night at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club: the band's weekly gig in Cincinnati. They released five LPs in the '80s, but no more until now. Drummer John Von Ohlen, 60, helped start this band in 1980. Thirteen of the original ...