Jul 9, 2024 11:35 AM
Trumpeter, Educator Jim Rotondi Dies at 61
Jim Rotondi, a renowned hard-bop trumpeter, composer and educator, died suddenly on July 7 at a hospital in France. He…
Joel Ross is among the 25 artists DownBeat thinks will help shape jazz in the decades to come.
(Photo: Lauren Desberg)Four years after moving to New York to study music, Joel Ross—already a veteran sideman—released his leader debut, KingMaker (Blue Note). The 2019 disc earned rave reviews, heralding the arrival of a vibraphonist who was also a conceptualist.
So, how is the 25-year-old Chicago native capitalizing on the buzz? By releasing a follow-up album and, well, going back to school. Even as Who Are You? (Blue Note) was released in October, Ross returned to The New School to finish his bachelor’s degree.
“I don’t like to do the obvious thing,” he said.
His decision as a youth to join the relatively small fraternity of vibraphonists came, he said, after his brother proved to be the better drummer. But it satisfied a creative urge to combine the characteristics of his favorite instruments—the drums and piano.
“The vibraphone is the best outlet to play a percussive instrument and express myself harmonically and theoretically,” he said.
As a bandleader, his guiding lights often have been trumpeters, including Miles Davis, Marquis Hill and Ambrose Akinmusire. Their willingness to grant their bandmates autonomy has proved a model.
“I don’t give my band much direction,” Ross explained. “Just bring the music. Be completely honest. Search for something higher.”
According to alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, a member of Ross’ quintet, Good Vibes, the leader seems determined to explore new sonic territory with his instrument: “He may have changed the vibes’ role within the comping realm. He’s developed a language where he’s able to play in between other people’s solos, with some landmarks, without normal comping chords—a motif way of comping.”
Ross, in fact, plays down traditional notions of accompanist and soloist, speaking instead of a joint effort to “craft a sort of long-form song.”
In January, Ross is scheduled to arrange a piece or two for the Danish Radio Big Band. His experience with ensembles of that size is limited, he said, motivating his return to school, where he will study arranging. He plans to use this new knowledge to avoid the obvious.
“I want to look into big band and orchestra writing, so that I can understand how it works,” he said, “so that I can break away from it.”
This story originally was published in the November 2020 issue of DownBeat. Subscribe here.
Jim Rotondi was acclaimed for his wide, round trumpet tone, remarkable virtuosity and assured swing.
Jul 9, 2024 11:35 AM
Jim Rotondi, a renowned hard-bop trumpeter, composer and educator, died suddenly on July 7 at a hospital in France. He…
Charles Lloyd, seen here at the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, makes DownBeat Poll history!
Jul 11, 2024 12:23 PM
The incomparable Charles Lloyd swept the 72nd Annual DownBeat Critics Poll, becoming the first artist ever to earn…
“Being president of Blue Note has been one of the coolest things that ever happened to me,” Was said. “It’s a gas to serve as one of the caretakers of that legacy.”
Jun 4, 2024 12:21 PM
Sitting with Don Was is a comfortable and unhurried exercise. He may seem slightly reserved at first, but ideas and…
“She reminds me of my childhood and makes we want to cry,” Cécile McLorin Salvant, pictured here with writer Ashley Kahn, said of Dianne Reeves.
Jun 11, 2024 12:31 PM
Italy’s Umbria Jazz Winter is one of those rare annual festivals that not only coincides with a major holiday —…
Maria Schneider said of Decades, her new compilation release: “I just wanted to create something, put it in a beautiful box and say, ‘Look at what we did.‘”
Jun 18, 2024 12:00 PM
Maria Schneider opened the sleek black box and placed it on a coffee table in her Manhattan apartment. Inside lay the…
