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John Daversa

John Daversa “gets sounds to come out of his little red trumpet like you never heard. The [John Daversa Progressive Big] Band itself ditto,” according to The Los Angeles Times. Daversa’s compositions and improvisations reflect a musical philosophy that aims to stretch boundaries, while maintaining a reverence for the jazz tradition.

Daversa is a versatile and respected performer, composer, arranger, producer, bandleader, and educator. He took an immediate interest in music at an early age, first through piano and voice, and later with trumpet and EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument).

He attended UCLA, studying composition and trumpet with virtuosi Mario Guarneri and Malcolm McNab. Although Daversa’s musical interests were firmly placed in jazz, he studied classical composition to deepen his understanding of the art. During that time, Daversa’s jazz skills won him the Herb Alpert Award, David Joel Miller Award, National Trumpet Competition, ITG Jazz Soloist Competition, and he was a finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition.

Daversa fused performance and academia richly. Working professionally since his high school days, Daversa earned a bachelor’s degree from UCLA, a master’s degree in jazz studies at California Institute of the Arts, and a doctor of musical arts degree in jazz studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, where he is presently a faculty member. As a sideman, Daversa has performed with a variety of artists including Burt Bacharach, the Yellowjackets, Dr. Dre and Michael Buble (with the legendary pop producer David Foster). He also performed alongside Warner Brothers’ recording artist Rene Olstead at the Monterey, Montreal, Playboy and Montreux Jazz Festivals, and he has appeared on Late Nite with David Letterman and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

The John Daversa Progressive Big Band performs regularly in the Los Angeles area, having developed a steady following at the world famous Baked Potato. Within the last two years, the ensemble has gained increasing public recognition, performing at such Los Angeles hallmarks as the Angel City Jazz Festival at the John Anson Ford Amphitheater and the KJAZ Summer Jazz Concert Series at Hollywood and Highland.

Daversa continues to thrive in the exploration of uncharted territory and sound innovation as The John Daversa Progressive Big Band launches onto the national and international jazz scene with the release of its debut studio album, Junk Wagon: The Big Band Album.


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Album Review

John Daversa: All Without Words: Variations Inspired by Loren

Read "All Without Words: Variations Inspired by Loren" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Quest'ambizioso concerto per tromba e orchestra composto e orchestrato da Justin Morell per il trombettista John Daversa rinnova il fascino delle pagine che Gil Evans scrisse per Miles Davis negli anni cinquanta. Nessuno dei due ha voluto ricreare quei lavori e si tratta di sfumature, dovute al clima impressionista, al lirismo della tromba sordinata e agli arrangiamenti maestosi. Quasi sconosciuti in Italia Morell e Daversa sono artisti di prim'ordine ed hanno prodotto un concept album splendido, ottenendo ...

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Album Review

Leon Foster Thomas: Calasanitus

Read "Calasanitus" reviewed by Chris May


Born in Trinidad and in 2023 based in London, steel-pan virtuoso Leon Foster Thomas surprised and delighted many in the jazz world with Metamorphosis (Ropeadope, 2016). It was his third album but the first to receive widespread distribution in the US and Europe. The disc proved the steel pan to be serious and sophisticated, sitting comfortably in a lineup of otherwise standard instrumentation, and an instrument that in the right hands can be as expressive as the vibraphone, its nearest ...

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Album Review

ARC Trio and the John Daversa Big Band: ARCeology: The Music of MSM Schmidt

Read "ARCeology: The Music of MSM Schmidt" reviewed by Jim Worsley


What would happen if fusion, already a hybrid of musical genres, was compounded with the sound of big-band? Further, that both genres were stretched well outside the box? An ensemble of bright musical minds came together on just such a project. The results could have been the disastrous soup of too many cooks in the kitchen or, perhaps, something special and creative. Fortunately, they served up an entree which is very much the latter. It starts with quality ...

5
Album Review

John Daversa Jazz Orchestra: All Without Words: Variations Inspired by Loren

Read "All Without Words: Variations Inspired by Loren" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Music can be inspired by many things, such as romantic affection, personal experience, world events and social concerns among many others. This extraordinary piece of music was inspired by a parent's love for a child. Trumpeter John Daversa asked his friend, composer Justin Morell, to write a large-scale orchestral piece for him. Morell came up with a composition based on his life with his son, Loren, who is autistic. Loren struggled with verbal communication from a very young ...

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Album Review

John Daversa Jazz Orchestra Featuring Justin Morell: All Without Words: Variations Inspired by Loren

Read "All Without Words: Variations Inspired by Loren" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Trumpeter John Daversa takes the biggest artistic challenge of his career with All Without Words: Variations Inspired by Loren. It is a large scale orchestral piece--a “jazz with strings" affair if it needs a label--that goes well its seminal predecessors in the style, to wit a pair of Charlie Parker With Strings albums (both bearing the same title), initially released on EmArcy, and reissued together later on a CD compilation (plus extra tracks) in 1995 on Verve; and trumpeter Clifford ...

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Album Review

South Florida Jazz Orchestra: Cheap Thrills: The Music Of Rick Margitza

Read "Cheap Thrills: The Music Of Rick Margitza" reviewed by Jack Bowers


In 2019, the acclaimed Michigan-bred, Paris-based tenor saxophonist Rick Margitza thought he was being asked to contribute a couple of charts to the University of South Florida Jazz Orchestra's fifth recording in its fifteen-year history as a working ensemble. But when SFJO founder and leader Chuck Bergeron looked at the charts he had an even better idea, and asked Margitza to write and / or arrange everything on the album, which thus became Cheap Thrills: The Music of Rick Margitza. ...

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Album Review

South Florida Jazz Orchestra: Cheap Thrills: The Music Of Rick Margitza

Read "Cheap Thrills: The Music Of Rick Margitza" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


The concept of a large, tightly-knit big band in a recording studio, on a concert or jazz club stage may just be a plug-in memory in today's environment. Fortunately there is the fifteenth anniversary recording of The South Florida Jazz Orchestra directed by bassist/bandleader Chuck Bergeron, entitled Cheap Thrills: The Music Of Rick Margitza, to remind us what a disciplined inventive big band sounds like. With the exception of George and Ira Gershwin's “Embraceable You," all the other ...

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Recording

ARCeology: The Music Of MSM Schmidt With The ARC Trio & The John Daversa Big Band Releases June 10th

ARCeology: The Music Of MSM Schmidt  With The ARC Trio & The John Daversa Big Band Releases June 10th

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

For the past several years, former Yellowjackets bassist and prolific producer Jimmy Haslip has enjoyed an ongoing working relationship with the Bremen, Germany-based jazz fusion keyboardist and composer Michael Schmidt (aka MSM Schmidt). While Haslip played on Schmidt’s 2007 album Transit and 2009’s Destination, he ended up co-producing 2012’s Evolution, 2015’s Utopia and 2017’s Life. They take their chemistry to new heights on ARCeology. The Music of MSM Schmidt. This dynamic offering finds Haslip and members of his ARC Trio ...

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Recording

Multi-Grammy Winner John Daversa Releases 'All Without Words: Variations Inspired By Loren' With Justin Morell

Multi-Grammy Winner John Daversa Releases 'All Without Words: Variations Inspired By Loren' With Justin Morell

Source: Mouthpiece Music

Trumpet master John Daversa is releasing his newest CD, All Without Words: Variations Inspired by Loren, a lush, orchestral jazz trumpet concerto composed by his lifelong friend and collaborator Justin Morell. Daversa is a prolific performing and recording artist whose projects often reflect important social themes, like his three-time Grammy-winning release, American Dreamers, Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom (2019), which gave voice to young undocumented people known as “Dreamers,” or his most recent project, Cuarentena: With Family at Home ...

3

Award / Grant

Los Angeles Based Independent Jazz Label, BFM Jazz, Wins Five Grammys

Los Angeles Based Independent Jazz Label, BFM Jazz, Wins Five Grammys

Source: Mouthpiece Music

BFM JAZZ is a boutique record label based in Los Angeles that garnered six Grammy nominations and turned them into five wins this past Sunday. In the company’s brief, nine-year existence, they’ve put out 27 projects that have accumulated 17 nominations collectively. In 2018, BFM Jazz released just three projects. All three received nominations and all three brought home Grammy statuettes. Trumpet master John Daversa won awards in three categories: Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, Best Improvised Jazz Solo, and ...

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Recording

Frost Concert Jazz Band Under The Direction Of John Daversa Releases Concerto For Guitar And Jazz Orchestra By Justin Morell, Featuring Adam Rogers

Frost Concert Jazz Band Under The Direction Of John Daversa Releases Concerto For Guitar And Jazz Orchestra By Justin Morell, Featuring Adam Rogers

Source: Mouthpiece Music

Jazz is an art form that allows musicians to drawn upon an endless array of stylistic and cultural traditions. While a number of jazz artists have incorporated the sophisticated forms of classical music in their writing and performances, there are few true concerto works for a jazz orchestra and fewer still composed for guitar. On Concerto for Guitar and Jazz Orchestra, three master musicians have joined forces to create a project of great beauty and depth. The music is composed ...

Recording

A jazz project with important messages

A jazz project with important messages

Source: Ken Franckling's Jazz Notes

Miami-based trumpeter and educator John Daversa's newest recording project is important on many levels that stretch far beyond jazz—or music. American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom (BFM Jazz) was recorded by the John Daversa Big Band supplemented by 53 so—called “Dreamers"—undocumented young people who were brought to the U.S. as children and have grown up with American culture and values. Daversa and his production team worked with nonprofit immigrant organizations to find Dreamers who could share their stories ...

2

Recording

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

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

Source: EastWest Media

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 ...

Recording

Trumpeter John Daversa Returns with Crackling Small Group. Special Guests Bob Mintzer and Gretchen Parlato

Trumpeter John Daversa Returns with Crackling Small Group. Special Guests Bob Mintzer and Gretchen Parlato

Source: Two for the Show Media

Street Date: September 25th, 2012 “John Daversa is pioneering a new jazz sound"  —Marc Myers, Jazz Wax On the heels of 2011's high-energy, take-no-prisoners, boundary-stretching Junk Wagon: The Big Band Album, acclaimed L.A.-based trumpeter-composer-arranger John Daversa scales things back for his upbeat follow up, Artful Joy.  "It was difficult trying to find the right album name for this one," says Daversa, who has been leading a big band and small group concurrently for the past six years. “I didn't realize ...

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Recording

John Daversa: Junk Wagon

John Daversa: Junk Wagon

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

You know how I'm always carping that jazz doesn't push hard enough to get to the next level? And you know how you email me to ask what exactly I have in mind to illustrate my point? Two words: John Daversa. His first studio CD, Junk Wagon: The Big Band Album is positively fascinating. Unlike many big band outings today that tend to be experimental and tough to chew on for the non-musician, Daversa's new album is an ambitious merging ...

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Recording

Trumpeter/Composer John Daversa Releases New Big Band Recording "Junk Wagon" on BFM Jazz.

Trumpeter/Composer John Daversa Releases New Big Band Recording "Junk Wagon" on BFM Jazz.

Source: Two for the Show Media

It's kind of a cheap play on words, but let's go for it anyway: What makes the music on John Daversa's Junk Wagon: The Big Band Album so exciting and so innovative is its Daversa-ty. As Bob Mintzer, the renowned saxophonist and longtime Yellowjackets member, puts it in his liner notes, “This CD is not Basie, not Ellington, not Kenton, not Gil Evans." It's John Daversa, big band music for 2011, not 1941. The arrangements, the attitude, the thought processes ...

Primary Instrument

Trumpet

Location

Los Angeles

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Improvisatory...

Blue Canoe Records
2024

buy

Improvisatory...

Blue Canoe Records
2024

buy

Calasanitus

Krossover Jazz
2023

buy

ARCeology: The Music...

Blue Canoe Records
2022

buy

Wild is the Wind

Slea Head Records
2021

buy

Improvisatory Observatory

From: Improvisatory Observatory: Live...
By John Daversa

I Am An Immigrant

From: Calasanitus
By John Daversa

Red and Gold

From: ARCeology: The Music of MSM...
By John Daversa

Videos

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