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Wycliffe Gordon

Wycliffe Gordon enjoys an extraordinary career as a performer, conductor, composer, arranger, and educator, receiving high praise from audiences and critics alike. Gordon tours the world performing hard-swinging, straight-ahead jazz for audiences ranging from heads of state to elementary school students. His trombone playing, hailed as "mixing powerful, intricate runs with sweet notes extended over clean melodies," has been universally hailed by jazz critics. Gordon received the Jazz Journalists Association 2002 and 2001 Award for Trombonist of the Year, the Jazz Journalists Association 2000 Critics' Choice Award for Best Trombone and has been nominated for the Jazzpar Award.

In addition to a thriving solo career, he tours regularly leading the Wycliffe Gordon Quartet, headlining at legendary jazz venues throughout the world. Gordon is a former veteran member of the Wynton Marsalis Septet, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and The Gully Low Jazz Band, and has been a featured guest artist on Billy Taylor's "Jazz at The Kennedy Center" Series. Gordon's extensive performance experience includes work with many of the most renowned jazz performers of the past and present.

Gordon's musical prowess has been captured on numerous recordings, including nine solo CDs and three co-leader CDs. His latest solo effort, “Cone's Coup,” is scheduled for release in May 2006. Gordon is featured on numerous recordings with The Wynton Marsalis Septet, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and numerous others as evidenced in his extensive discography.

Wycliffe Gordon is also a gifted composer and arranger. He was commissioned to compose a vibrant new score for the 1925 classic silent film "Body and Soul" (notable as the screen debut of Paul Robeson), which was premiered at the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra's 2000-01 season opening night performance at Avery Fisher Hall. Gordon's "I Saw The Light," a musical tribute to Muhammad Ali, was commissioned and premiered by The Brass Band of Battle Creek in March 2004. Both works are scheduled for release on DVD in summer of 2006.

Gordon's compositions have been performed by The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, The Wynton Marsalis Septet, The Wycliffe Gordon Quartet, The Brass Band of Battle Creek and numerous other ensembles, and performed in programs throughout the U.S. and abroad including concert halls in New York, Los Angeles, Aspen, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Germany, London, Finland and Switzerland. His compositions are also featured as a part of the PBS series "Marsalis on Music." Recent concert seasons have included premieres of compositions by Mr. Gordon for a variety of ensembles both in the Unites States and internationally. The first in a series of print editions of his big band, small ensemble and choir compositions will be available in fall of 2006.

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Album Review

Visions Jazz Ensemble: Across the Field

Read "Across the Field" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Here is a unique and intriguing concept: a baker's dozen collegiate anthems and fight songs, trimly recast in contemporary jazz settings by the seven-member Visions Jazz Ensemble, comprised of Indiana University alumni who stride Across the Field with an abundance of proficiency and perception. Although the hip arrangements by the ensemble's co-leaders, trumpeter Sam Butler and tenor saxophonist Garrett Fasig, sometimes turn these largely familiar songs inside out and upside down, every one of them has its ...

5
Liner Notes

Wycliffe Gordon: What You Dealin' With?

Read "Wycliffe Gordon: What You Dealin' With?" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


Privy to the entire history of jazz trombone via the technological age in which we live, Wycliffe Gordon seems to have utilized this information in such a way that his own playing displays elements from various periods and a technical competence that is indeed remarkable. “I was most familiar, at first, with guys who played with Louis Armstrong, namely Trummy Young or Kid Ory and later on Jack Teagarden," says Gordon about the early years in his development. “Later I ...

6
Album Review

Diane Marino: I Hear Music

Read "I Hear Music" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


"I Hear Music," from Nashville-based vocalist, pianist and arranger Diane Marino, is a twelve-track retrospective of selections--famous and not so--drawn from the Songbook, as well as being associated with such great artists as Dakota Staton, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, and others. The opener, the rarely heard “I Hear Music," is Marino's fine upbeat take on an old Burton Lane & Frank Loesser tune from a forgetable pre-WWII film, “Dancing on a Dime" (Paramount Pictures, 1940). It is ...

37
Album Review

NYO Jazz: We're Still Here

Read "We're Still Here" reviewed by Jack Bowers


The “NYO" in NYO Jazz is shorthand for National Youth Orchestra, a marvelous concept that should be cloned and shipped to as many cities, towns and villages as possible. NYO, comprising carefully chosen musicians, ages 16 to 19, from across the U.S.A. is based at Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute in New York City, and We're Still Here marks its first full-length recording. The NYO's artistic director is trumpeter, composer and educator Sean Jones who is featured ...

3
Live Review

Wycliffe Gordon & Vincent Gardner At The Jazz Corner

Read "Wycliffe Gordon & Vincent Gardner At The Jazz Corner" reviewed by Martin McFie


Wycliffe Gordon & Vincent Gardner The Jazz Corner Hilton Head Island, SC November 8-9, 2019 Wycliffe “Pinecone" Gordon is an Armstrong-styled horn player and has won a Louie award to prove it. He displayed that same laid-back behind the beat timing as Louis Armstrong, which belied the clarity of phrasing and true importance weighted on every single note. He began on Yamaha tenor trombone with Duke Ellington's “It Don't mean a thing (If It ...

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Interview

Wycliffe Gordon: What This is All About

Read "Wycliffe Gordon: What This is All About" reviewed by Esther Berlanga-Ryan


Versatility is an important part of a well-developed artistic soul. The arts provide a wide range of outlets of expression that can be nurtured and grown into their finest results. Music could very well be a reason to believe in the extraordinary, and jazz musicians are no exception; they might even be a norm. It is the dream of every artist to create freely, as improvised notes are gathered in an instrument and then exposed to the world at a ...

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Interview

Wycliffe Gordon: Keeping the Spirit and the Letter Alive

Read "Wycliffe Gordon: Keeping the Spirit and the Letter Alive" reviewed by Marcia Hillman


Wycliffe Gordon is one of the busiest jazz trombone players in the business today. He has traveled the world performing with the Wynton Marsalis Septet and Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, under his own name and as a duo with Jay Leonhart. As an educator he has performed and taught master classes at various schools.

All About Jazz: You started trombone at age 12. Did you study music formally? Wycliffe Gordon: I started trombone ...

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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Wycliffe Gordon

Jazz Musician of the Day: Wycliffe Gordon

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Wycliffe Gordon's birthday today!

Wycliffe Gordon enjoys an extraordinary career as a performer, conductor, composer, arranger, and educator, receiving high praise from audiences and critics alike. Gordon tours the world performing hard-swinging, straight-ahead jazz for audiences ranging from heads of state to elementary school students. His trombone playing, hailed as “mixing powerful, intricate runs with sweet notes extended over clean melodies... Read more.

Place our Musician of the Day widget on your website or blog. ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Wycliffe Gordon

Jazz Musician of the Day: Wycliffe Gordon

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Wycliffe Gordon's birthday today!

Wycliffe Gordon enjoys an extraordinary career as a performer, conductor, composer, arranger, and educator, receiving high praise from audiences and critics alike. Gordon tours the world performing hard-swinging, straight-ahead jazz for audiences ranging from heads of state to elementary school students. His trombone playing, hailed as “mixing powerful, intricate runs with sweet notes extended over clean melodies... Read more.

Place our Musician of the Day widget on your website or blog. ...

1

Performance / Tour

A robust sound rooted in early jazz

A robust sound rooted in early jazz

Source: Ken Franckling's Jazz Notes

Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon is a modern-day ambassador for classic jazz dating back nearly a century. He digs the repertoire and style, putting his own stamp on it whether performing vintage songs or his own newer material. Such was the case on Friday, March 24 when Gordon performed at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in Fort Myers as part of its Jazzy Nights concert series. He was backed by four Southwest Florida jazz all-stars: tenor saxophonist Lew Del Gatto, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Wycliffe Gordon

Jazz Musician of the Day: Wycliffe Gordon

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Wycliffe Gordon's birthday today!

Wycliffe Gordon enjoys an extraordinary career as a performer, conductor, composer, arranger, and educator, receiving high praise from audiences and critics alike. Gordon tours the world performing hard-swinging, straight-ahead jazz for audiences ranging from heads of state to elementary school students. His trombone playing, hailed as “mixing powerful, intricate runs with sweet notes extended over clean melodies... Read more.

Place our Musician of the Day widget on your website or blog. ...

1

Performance / Tour

Emmanuel Baptist Church Welcomes Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon To Their Next Jazz Vespers

Emmanuel Baptist Church Welcomes Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon To Their Next Jazz Vespers

Source: Emmanuel Baptist Church Jazz Vespers

Brooklyn, NY: Extraordinary and Award-winning jazz artist Wycliffe Gordon will be performing at the next edition of Emmanuel Baptist Church’s highly popular Jazz Vespers series. He will be bringing his unique hard-swinging, straight-ahead style to a diverse audience of true jazz lovers. The Jazz Vespers service will take place in its standing home at the historic Emmanuel Baptist Church, 279 Lafayette Avenue, located in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, New York, on April 28, 2013 at 3:00 PM. Currently ...

Performance / Tour

Juilliard Jazz Presents "An Evening with Wycliffe Gordon" on Monday February 4

Juilliard Jazz Presents "An Evening with Wycliffe Gordon" on Monday February 4

Source: Chris M. Slawecki

Juilliard Jazz presents “An Evening with Wycliffe Gordon” on Monday, February 4 at 8 PM in Juilliard’s Paul Hall. Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon is artist-in-residence this season at Juilliard Jazz and performs with Juilliard Jazz Ensembles. The program features arrangements by Wycliffe Gordon, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and James Brown. The two Juilliard Ensembles performing on the February 4th concert have been coached by Juilliard faculty members Frank Kimbrough and Xavier Davis. Xavier Davis’ ensemble features Gabriel Medd (trumpet), ...

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Event

Trish Richardson "The Soul of Jazz" Book Signing at Wycliffe Gordon Concert on May 2

Trish Richardson "The Soul of Jazz" Book Signing at Wycliffe Gordon Concert on May 2

Source: Trish Richardson

Author Trish Richardson will be signing copies of her book, The Soul of Jazz: Stories and Inspiration from Those Who Followed the Song in Their Souls prior to Wycliffe Gordon and the Bothell High School and Mercer Island High School Jazz Bands’ performance at Eastside Foursquare Church in Bothell on Wednesday, May 2nd at 7 pm. Doors open at 6:30pm. Tickets to the concert can be purchased at mihsband.com. For this special event, half the profits from each book sale ...

170

Festival

Harlem Jazz Shrines: Wycliffe Gordon's Jazz a la Carte, May 13-14, Apollo

Harlem Jazz Shrines: Wycliffe Gordon's Jazz a la Carte, May 13-14, Apollo

Source: Carolyn McClair Public Relations

The Apollo Theater Serves up Wycliffe Gordon's Jazz à la Carte Featuring Wycliffe Gordon, Savion Glover, Carla Cook, Nikki Yanofsky, Corey Wilcox, Grace Kelly, Temple University Big Band and Director/Choreographer Ken Roberson May 13, 8:00 pm and May 14, 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival Runs May 9-15 7 Days * 35 Events * 8 Venues The prestige of the past / The pulse of the present All Tickets Just $10 or Free! ...

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Performance / Tour

Wycliffe Gordon is "Home for the Holidays" to Help Commencement Park with Some Friends

Wycliffe Gordon is "Home for the Holidays" to Help Commencement Park with Some Friends

Source: Jazz@Rochester

Wycliffe Gordon, one of the top trombone blowers in jazz is coming “Home for the Holidays"and performing Sunday at a Jazz for the Park concert to benefit the Wilson Commencement Park. He'll be joined by an all-star quintet that features George Caldwell (piano), Sabu Adeyola (bass), Melvin Henderson (guitar), Sean Jefferson (drums) and Herb Smith (trumpet). Proceeds from Jazz for the Park enhance the life-changing programs and services at the Wilson Commencement Park in Rochester. The Park has 50 townhouse ...

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Education

Jazz Arts Group Welcomes Wycliffe Gordon for in-School Residency and Premiere of "East High Pride"

Jazz Arts Group Welcomes Wycliffe Gordon for in-School Residency and Premiere of "East High Pride"

Source: Michael Ricci

This week, the Jazz Arts Group's Jazz in Schools program welcomes acclaimed trombonist and composer Wycliffe Gordon back to Columbus for a two-day in-school residency, punctuated by an on-field appearance with the East High School Mighty Marching Tiger Band to premiere “East High Pride" on Friday, October 22. Mr. Gordon will be joining the band on East High's Senior Night as they present their legacy piece, written by Gordon, for the community of the King-Lincoln District. He will also conduct ...

Jim Lutz
trombone
Nick Finzer
trombone
Kevin Jackson
trombone
Coley Bryce Stegall
multi-instrumentalist

Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Across the Field

Self Produced
2024

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We’re Still Here

Self Produced
2022

buy

We're Still Here

Self Produced
2022

buy

I Hear Music

M&M Records
2022

buy

Cone And T-Staff

Criss Cross Jazz
2010

buy

This Rhythm On My Mind

Bluesback Records
2007

buy

Greensleeves

From: Standards Only
By Wycliffe Gordon

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