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…
Lauren Sevian leads her own ensemble, performs with the group Lioness and is the band director of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Young Women’s Jazz Orchestra.
(Photo: Anna Yatskevich)How do accomplished artists find new ways to expand their sound? Lauren Sevian has a few ideas. Frequently saying “yes” to collaborative situations and creating opportunities to play and compose, the baritone saxophonist continues to push her music in new directions.
Allowing one experience to inform her approach to another, Sevian leads multiple ensembles, lends her voice to the Lioness collective and has helped anchor the Mingus Big Band for more than 15 years. Last summer, Posi-Tone released her sophomore leader album, Bliss, a decade after her debut, Blueprint. The unintended wait invited self-reflection.
“I was able to see my coming of age,” Sevian explained. “By having that much time pass between the two recordings, there was a significant jump in what I could actually do on the instrument.”
In addition to chronicling her growth, Bliss documents Sevian’s longtime association with bassist Christian McBride. “It’s so much fun to play with him,” she said. “You give him something, he’ll have a couple looks at it and he’s cool.”
From McBride’s perspective, Sevian’s become “a staple” of the scene. “I adore her as a person and as a musician,” he said. “When you see her on the gig, you automatically know it’s going to be great.”
Working in countless big-band settings, Sevian has grown to embrace the opportunity to observe certain choices the leader makes—and those the lead alto saxophonist makes—guiding the music, cueing the band and engaging the audience. “I like to observe what’s going on, taking cues from other people,” she said. “That has informed how I put a set together [as a leader].”
In pursuit of authentic expression, Sevian composes with experiential sensitivity, whether she’s writing for—or against—accepted instrumental constructs. “[Sometimes,] it’s hard to explain what you’re actually doing, musically,” she said. “Maybe you can say, ‘I’m playing these patterns,’ but I’m trying to get on a deeper level.”
For Sevian, directing Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Young Women’s Jazz Orchestra has become deeply meaningful. As a young player coming up, she remembers going to hear the DIVA Jazz Orchestra and being conscious of two separate but connected ideas: This band is incredible; this band is a novelty. “They were playing at such a high level, and [it was] all women,” she said. “I didn’t even think these things existed. I always felt like I was the token girl in the band.”
As YWJO band director, Sevian encourages girls to explore their own their sound. “By starting this program at this age, these girls start to develop an awareness of their personal voice,” she said. “A big component is mentorship—not just me mentoring them, but them mentoring each other.”
Leading by example helps dictate how Sevian shares her time and artistry, but the music is what moves her. “It’s coming from a genuine place,” she said. “I’m not saying to myself, ‘OK, now I’m going to do this all-female band.’” Accordingly, the artistic partnership she’s formed with alto saxophonist Alexa Tarantino emerged naturally, following an immediate connection the two shared on the bandstand.
“When we played together, I [thought], ‘I almost can’t even hear myself,’” Sevian said. “Our phrasing, our natural nuances are very similar.” Sevian considers this kinship to be one of the more compelling attributes of LSAT, her co-led project with Tarantino (who is also a member of Lioness). “Even though we’re many years apart, we came together through the music.”
Sevian is among those jazz artists today who stretch their sound by interpreting existing vocabulary and creating new modes of expression. “I really want everything I do to mean something,” she said. “As you get older, you become more comfortable in your skin and you start to have the attitude that if people accept [your work], cool, and if they don’t, that’s cool, too.” DB
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…
The Century Room in downtown Tucson, Arizona, was born in 2021.
May 21, 2024 12:58 PM
Players got to play. It’s long been a part of jazz history: When there’s a venue vacuum, when there are fewer…
“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 —…
