Results for "Knoxville Jazz Orchestra"
Knoxville Jazz Orchestra

Active since:
When trumpeter, arranger and composer Vance Thompson called the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra’s first rehearsal in August of 1999, he had no way of knowing the extent to which this experience would shape the next two decades of his life. Thompson had just returned home to East Tennessee after a four year stint in Chicago, and was anxious to find a way to continue writing for and playing in a pro-caliber big band. Bands of this type had been plentiful in Chicago, but there was no such outlet in Knoxville at the time. “When I looked around and thought about the players that were in the area, I realized we had enough guys to have a high quality band,” said Thompson
Will Boyd

Born:
Multi-reed instrumentalist, composer, educator Will Boyd hails from soul sax tradition like artists Eddie Harris, Hank Crawford, David "Fat Head" Newman, King Curtis and Yusef Lateef. Originally from Orangeburg SC by way of Queens NY, Will currently resides in Knoxville TN. He is a member of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra and currently has 2 solo albums “Live at the Red Piano Lounge” and “Freedom Soul Jazz”. Will also co-leads a group with Wife, jazz radio host, and founder of the Knoxville Women in Jazz Jam Festival Kelle Jolly.
Will was playing with professional local R&B groups before he was 18
The Road Less Traveled

Album: The Road Less Traveled
By Knoxville Jazz Orchestra
Label: Blue Canoe Records
Released: 2019
Duration: 07:32
The Road Less Traveled

Label: Blue Canoe Records
Released: 2019
Track listing: Rhythm-A-Ning; Grew's Tune; What The World Needs Now; The Peacocks; Tumbling Tumbleweeds; The
Road Less Traveled; Back Down In Lu Easy Anna; The Tennessee Waltz; Woody'N You; Monk's Mood; Ask
Me
Now; At Last
Big Ears Festival 2017

by Mark Sullivan
Big Ears Festival Knoxville, TN March 23-26, 2017 Knoxville's Big Ears Festival expanded to a full four days this year, giving it more time to go its expected merry, eclectic way. In a break with usual practice, there was no official Composer in Residence. That distinction could have gone to Gavin Bryars ...
Blues Man from Memphis: More from the Musical Mind of Donald Brown

Label: Blue Canoe Records
Released: 2007
The Knoxville Jazz Orchestra: A Year in the Life of the Band...

by Jack Bowers
As the great Sinatra once sang, “It was a very good year...” While 2001 was hardly trouble-free for the Knoxville (TN) Jazz Orchestra, the band was able to raise enough money during that time to underwrite a two-week European tour. The KJO appeared at France’s Jazz à Vienne and Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival and was able ...