Jim Knapp Orchestra - It's Not Business, It's Personal

The career and music of Seattle-based composer/arranger and trumpeter James Knapp is a known and respected quantity in the inner circles of jazz music, inhabited by its musicians, bandleaders, journalists and educators. Those fortunate enough to gain awareness of the intrinsic beauty of his music place the work of his Composers and Improvisers Orchestra of the '70s-'80s and his more recent assemblage, the 13-piece Jim Knapp Orchestra, in the upper echelon of modern jazz composition. For this 2009 session, we find the band focused and in top form, as it often was during a very active period in the early 2000s. Made up of a highly creative collection of colleagues from the Cornish College of the Arts, former students, and Seattle professionals, the music was approached with seriousness, dedication and honour, with the fun and fulfilment that comes with that level of involvement very evident.

Jim Knapp's music is full of intensity, emotion and creative textures. His music should be more known. It's among the best of orchestral jazz being written these days. - MARIA SCHNEIDER

Artists:
Matt Jorgensen - DrumsJon Hamar - BassPaul Taub - FluteMark Taylor - SaxophoneSteve Treseler - SaxophoneStuart MacDonald - SaxophoneJim Dejoie - SaxophoneBrad Allison - TrumpetVern Sielert - TrumpetJay Thomas - TrumpetTom Varner - HornJeff Hay - TromboneJohn Hansen - PianoChris Stover - Trombone