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COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY Jon Faddis is a complete and complex musician, conductor, composer and educator. As a trumpeter, Faddis possesses full command of his instrument, consistently demonstrating a virtually unparalleled range and making the practically impossible seem effortless. Time Out New York (2003) calls Faddis “the world’s greatest trumpeter … the greatest trumpeter on the planet for decades … brash soloistic logic and breathtaking technical acuity.” Faddis – of whom his friend and mentor John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie said, “He’s the best ever, including me!” – summons forth and sustains stratospherically high notes in one moment, and in the next, masterfully captures enchantingly thoughtful melodies. Faddis evokes the voices of Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge, Miles Davis and of course Gillespie (no easy feat), all the while remaining true to his own. Born in Oakland, California in 1953, Faddis began playing trumpet at age eight, inspired by Louis Armstrong’s appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show.” Three years later, his trumpet teacher, Bill Catalano, began teaching him Gillespie’s music; at 15, Faddis sat in with Gillespie at the famed Jazz Workshop in San Francisco. Upon graduating from high school, Faddis joined, at age 17, Lionel Hampton’s big band on tour in Texas as a featured soloist, and moved to New York. That same year, Faddis became lead trumpeter for the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band; the affiliation lasted for four years and included touring the former Soviet Union for the U.S. State Department. Such auspicious beginnings heralded great things to come. In his thirty-plus years as a professional musician, Faddis has toured and recorded with the Duke Ellington Orchestra and the Count Basie Orchestra, under the original directors and namesakes of those bands, as well as with Gil Evans, Charles Mingus and Dizzy Gillespie, among others. He has served as music director and conductor for various Jazz bands, including Gillespie’s 70th Birthday Big Band and the GrammyTM-winning United Nation Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Centennial Big Band, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band (1992-2002), and the CHJB’s successor, the Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra (the Jazz Orchestra of New York) (2003-present). In August 2004, the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, celebrating its 40th anniversary at Columbia College Chicago in 2005-2006, named Faddis as its Artistic Director, and Faddis will be conducting both the Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra and the Chicago Jazz Ensemble in the future. Remaining true to the tradition of honoring one’s teachers, Faddis continues to champion the music of his primary mentor and close friend, Dizzy Gillespie. Among other things, Faddis has served as music director for the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars and the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars Big Band, including for the recordings Dizzy’s World (Shanachie 5060 © 1999) and Things to Come (MCGJ1009 © 2002 Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild). Faddis’ Jazz recording credits include well over 500 albums, ranging from early duets with Oscar Peterson and Eubie Blake to soundtracks for film and television (including “The Cosby Show,” The Gauntlet,” and “Bird”) to the GrammyTM-nominated recording Remembrances (© 1998 Chesky), with original arrangements by Carlos Franzetti, as well as Into the Faddisphere (Epic), Hornucopia (Epic), and Legacy (Concord). In the past decade, Faddis has recorded with Ray Brown, the Heath Brothers, Joe Henderson, Milt Hinton, JJ Johnson, and Lalo Schifrin, among others. His Jazz opera, Lulu Noire (with libretto by Lee Breuer), received its premier at the Spoleto USA Festival in 1997 and was performed at the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia that same year; USA Today named Faddis’ Lulu Noire one of its “Top Ten” picks for all of 1997. Faddis also headlines regularly as a guest artist with symphonies and orchestras and as a leader of his own combos in clubs and in concert around the world – including, for example, conducting the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in 2000 in a concert of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music, a performance made available in 2004 through public radio’s American Mavericks series. Faddis possesses an enduring commitment to the accessible and quality education of young musicians, regularly leading master classes nationally and internationally. In May 2003, Faddis received Manhattan School of Music’s first-ever honorary doctorate in Jazz Studies. Among numerous other awards, Faddis has also received the Milt Jackson Award for Excellence and Accessibility in Jazz. Faddis remains committed to his work at Purchase College-SUNY (http://www.purchase.edu www.purchase.edu), where he became the first Artist-in-Residence in 1999. Faddis continues to serve as Artist-in-Residence and Professor, and is, as of 2002, Director of Jazz Performance at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College-SUNY, where he teaches regularly each week during the school year. In December 2002, Faddis premiered original compositions based on over sixty works by Romare Bearden at the Neuberger Museum of Art at Purchase College-SUNY. Faddis currently directs a student ensemble at Purchase College-SUNY, the Purchase Jazz Endeavor. The Purchase Jazz Endeavor performs in New York, including benefits for High 5 Tickets to the Arts (http://www.high5tix.org www.high5tix.org) and by invitation at the International Association for Jazz Education’s annual conference in 2004 ("http://www.iaje.org" www.iaje.org) . Faddis serves in an advisory capacity with the International Association for Jazz Education (among other things, serving in September 2002 as Music Director for a benefit and scholarship program honoring Fats Navarro and organized by Jazz Alliance International), the International Trumpet Guild, the Commission Project (Rochester, NY), Veritas’ Annual Friends of Charlie Parker Concerts (New York), the Jazz Foundation of America (New York), the Mandela Crew (Boston, MA), and the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation. Faddis served as Music Director for the opening ceremonies, in October 2003, of the Louis Armstrong House in Queens, NY ( HYPERLINK "http://www.satchmo.net" www.satchmo.net) and led a series of children’s concerts there in the spring of 2004. Faddis’ vision of Jazz encompasses a healthy respect for the history of Jazz, yet also fully embraces and advances its tradition of innovation and change. His vision is one that combines an intellectual playfulness and curiosity with the rigorous discipline necessary to create exceptional music; it is a vision honed particularly with Gillespie, exemplified especially by Faddis’ work at Carnegie Hall, and applied consistently in all that Faddis does. In late 2005, look for more information about Jon Faddis, the Jon Faddis Quartet, the Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra (and the legacy of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band), the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, and other Jazz projects of Faddis’ at HYPERLINK "http://www.jonfaddis.net" www.jonfaddis.net as well as his accalimed CD on Koch Records by the Jon Faddis Quartet (Jon Faddis, leader & trumpet; David Hazeltine, piano; Kiyoshi Kitagawa, bass; and Dion Parson, drums). Jon Faddis, the Jon Faddis Quartet, the Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra More about Jon Faddis’ recent big band work: From 1991 and through the 2001-2002 season, Faddis conducted the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band at Carnegie Hall. The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band has two CDs, Eastwood After Hours: Live at Carnegie Hall (© 1997 Malpaso Records/Warner Bros. Records) and the self-titled Carnegie Hall Jazz Band (© 1996 Blue Note/Capitol Records, Inc.). The CHJB’s concerts were broadcast on NPR’s JazzSet and acclaimed internationally; as Gary Giddins wrote in The Village Voice, “in a rare battle of the bands, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band shellacked the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.” As conductor and music director of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Faddis – in collaboration with series producer George Wein – brought and strengthened a multidimensional vision of Jazz. A longtime hallmark of Faddis’ work is the pairing of many of Jazz’s greatest elder statesmen with some of the best emerging talent in unique and unexpected ways; septo- and octogenarians play shoulder-to-shoulder with twenty-somethings and in some cases, teens; commissions are shared among many composers and musicians of various generations. Indeed, in some 40-plus concerts at Carnegie Hall during ten years, the CHJB included 135 musicians and 70 guest artists; it premiered over 100 pieces by over 35 different arrangers and composers. By any standard, the CHJB remains one of the most diverse Jazz bands in history, and it regularly brought Jazz to full houses at Carnegie Hall’s 2800-seat Isaac Stern auditorium and around the world. On October 25, 2002, the CHJB played its final concert at Yale University. Faddis – returning to the same concert hall where, 30 years earlier (and sometimes since), he performed with his mentors and colleagues (including Duke Ellington, Willie “the Lion” Smith, Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson, Art Blakey, Jo Jones, Max Roach, Milt Hinton, Charles Mingus, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, and others) – was awarded the Duke Ellington Medal. Fortunately, many recognize the extraordinary accomplishments of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and the importance of continuing that work. Currently, the Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra – “the Jazz Orchestra of New York” – continues the mission and the legacy of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. Today, the Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra (the JFJO) shares that music, epitomizing and celebrating Jazz at its best. The JFJO debuted at a special private event at The National Arts Club in New York in June 2003, and in March 2004, the JFJO performed for the first time under its new name for the public at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College. The JFJO performed at Newport Jazz Festival’s 50th Anniversary in August 2004; other appearances include Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Princeton University, and other venues. With the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, Faddis – as its Artistic Director – looks forward to bridging musical styles and communities. The CJE, in residence at Columbia College Chicago since 1945 ( HYPERLINK "http://www.chijazz.com" www.chijazz.com), set new attendance records at Chicago’s Jazz Showcase in the fall of 2004 and presented its Sixth Annual Jazz Heritage Series in the spring of 2005. Howard Reich, reviewing the CJE’s first concert of 2005 in The Chicago Tribune, enthuses “chalk up an unalloyed triumph for the Chicago Jazz Ensemble and its new artistic director – they swing like crazy.” The CJE will be celebrating its 40th anniversary season in 2005-2006 with some very special events, including additional children’s and teens’ projects and audience conversations. Carnegie Hall is a registered trademark of the Carnegie Hall Corporation. ALSO VISIT: |
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