Results for "Vance Thompson"

New Music From Hart, Gratkowski, Rahn, Smith And More

by Bob Osborne
January 8, 2026

This playlist delves deep into the vibrant landscape of contemporary independent jazz and improvised music, showcasing an eclectic mix of sounds that defy easy categorization. From the rhythmic sophistication of Latin fusion and the intricate melodies of modern piano trios to boundary-pushing avant-garde improvisations, the selections deliberately cross genre lines. The journey takes listeners through structured ...

Introducing Pianist Holly Bean

by Sanford Josephson
May 25, 2025

For Holly Bean, in her last semester at Juilliard, it was the summit of a long journey that began when, as a three-year-old, she started playing on the piano in her Oak Ridge, TN, home. “I would hop on top of the bench and try to copy my mom, who plays piano and organ," she said. ...

Vance Thompson

Vance Thompson is the founder/music director/arranger of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, a professional big band, nonprofit organization based in Tennessee that produces dozens of concerts annually, has performed internationally, released acclaimed recordings, and collaborated with guests such as Monty Alexander, Hank Jones, Eric Reed, Michael Dease, Donald Brown, Carmen Bradford, Gregory Tardy, John Clayton, Stefon Harris and many others. Recent milestones include Thompson’s Grammy-nominated performance on trumpet (What If, Jerry Douglas Band), arranging for the 2023 Grammy-winning (Best Large Ensemble) Count Basie Orchestra album, Basie Swings the Blues and celebrating 25 years as a professor of Jazz Trumpet at the University of Tennessee’s College of Music.

The Journey

By Keith L. Brown

Label: Space Time Records
Released: 2015
Track listing: 4G; Close Your Eyes and Believe; Human Nature; Capt;n Kirk; Prelude For The One; The Journey; The Narrow Road; Ten Years of Turmoil; Deception of the Heart; F.R.C.; The Biscuit Man; (I've Got A) Golden Ticket

Such Sweet Thunder

By Vance Thompson

Label: Shade Street Music
Released: 2015
Track listing: Pannonica; Isfahan; Little Sparrow; Ugly Beauty; Prelude to a Kiss; Rockin’ in Rhythm; Four in One; He’s Gone Away.

Vance Thompson's Five Plus Six: Such Sweet Thunder

by Angelo Leonardi
December 23, 2015

La ricca didattica orchestrale delle università statunitensi continua a dare i suoi frutti, facendo nascere organici che non hanno molto da invidiare alle formazioni più celebrate. Questo riguarda in particolare il perfezionismo del collettivo, la flessibilità delle sue dinamiche, la tensione ritmica e l'opulenza timbrica. Il tutto entro orchestrazioni variopinte, capaci di padroneggiare un'ampia gamma espressiva ...

Vance Thompson's Five Plus Six: Such Sweet Thunder

by Edward Blanco
February 3, 2015

Knoxville-based Trumpeter, arranger and band leader Vance Thompson formed The Marble City Five quintet over a year ago and when thinking about recording their first album, decided to augment the band by adding a six-piece horn section comprised of some of the city's younger rising talent. The resulting new Knoxville, TN-based group is now known as ...

Vance Thompson's Five Plus Six: Such Sweet Thunder

by Jack Bowers
December 18, 2014

For the mathematically challenged, Vance Thompson's Five Plus Six equals eleven. In other words, it's Thompson's working quintet, the Marble City Five, amplified by half a dozen horns. On its debut recording, the Knoxville, TN-based ensemble performs music by Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Thelonious Monk and--brace yourself--country singer Dolly Parton. In fact, Parton's “Little Sparrow," the ...

Bob Lark and His Alumni Big Band: Sweet Return

by Jack Bowers
October 27, 2014

As was the case two years ago (2012) with its first album, Reunion, trumpeter Bob Lark's Alumni Big Band on Sweet Return is comprised of musicians he has supervised in various groups during a long and eminent career that embodies more than twenty years as director of Jazz Studies at DePaul University in Chicago. Even so, ...

Fred Hess Big Band / Timucua Jazz Orchestra / Michael Treni

by Jack Bowers
July 4, 2010

Fred Hess Big Band Hold On Dazzle Records 2010 When listening to Hold On, composer / arranger / saxophonist Fred Hess' fourteenth album as leader but first in front of a big band, one question immediately arises: What took him so long? As it turns out, recording his ...