John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble

“Hollenbeck is taking the big band into the future.”—Chris Barton, LA Times

“John Hollenbeck’s 18-piece Large Ensemble can explode with rhythmic drive and technical dazzle, or it can evoke serene calm, tone poetry and even prayer. It’s a big band for a new eclectic world, building on the legacy of seminal big-band composer Bob Brookmeyer and other role models. Hollenbeck holds it together with intricate drumming, compositional acumen and searing wit as he marshals the resources of top jazz improvisers.”—David Adler, TimeOut

Tonight’s concert celebrates the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble’s most recent release, Songs I Like a Lot on Sunnyside Records. The album features vocalists Kate McGarry and Theo Bleckmann and Hollenbeck's arrangements of songs by Jimmy Webb, Imogen Heap, Ornette Coleman, and others.

The John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble’s previous albums, A Blessing (Omnitone) and Eternal Interlude (Sunnyside Records), both received Grammy nominations. In 2007, Hollenbeck was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship and in 2012 he was awarded a Doris Duke Performing Artists Award. He has been commissioned recently by Bang on a Can All-Stars, Gotham Wind Symphony, Ethos Percussion Group, the Painted Bride Art Center (Philadelphia), the Orchestre National de Jazz (Paris; funded by the Chamber Music America French-American Jazz Exchange), and the hr-BigBand (Frankfurt, Germany

Get your tickets early for the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, a band literally so big we can’t fit them onto our jazz cabaret stage. We have to sacrifice some seats to squeeze them into the best room for jazz in town, but there’s plenty of room for their outsized sound.

This concert is presented by the Wexner Center in conjunction with the 36th annual OSU School of Music Jazz Festival.

John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble

Conductor – JC Sanford
Composer and Drums – John Hollenbeck
Voice – Theo Bleckmann
Special Guest on Voice-Kate McGarry
Piano/Keys – Matt Mitchell
Acoustic and Electric Bass – Matt Clohesy
Mallet Percussion- Patricia Franceshy

Woodwinds
Ben Kono – flute/soprano/alto saxophone
Jeremy Viner – clarinet / tenor saxophone
Ellery Eskelin – tenor saxophone
Steve Lugerner – tenor saxophone/soprano saxophone/flute/english horn
Bohdan Hilash – bass clarinet/baritone saxophone/contrabass clarinet/bass saxophone

Trombones
Mark Patterson
Rob Hudson
Jacob Garchik
Alan Ferber

Trumpets/Flugelhorns
Tony Kadleck
Jon Owens
John Bailey
Matt Holman