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Blue Wisp Big Band

Founded in January, 1980 by drummer John Von Ohlen and trumpeter Don Johnson, the Blue Wisp Big Band got its start in and its name from the late Blue Wisp Jazz Club. Von Ohlen, a native of Indianapolis, moved to the Cincinnati area after many years on the road playing with world class jazz orchestras, most notably those of Stan Kenton and Woody Herman.

After hearing all of the fine musicians in the area, he felt there was a need to form a group because most of them “weren’t playing any jazz, which is the reason they started playing in the first place.” He felt the desire to start a “world-class big band and wanted to put it in a tavern, a beer joint.”

Don Johnson, who had been on the Cincinnati scene for years, suggested which instrumentalists should play in the band. Von Ohlen states, “Don was the horn connection.” Pianist Steve Schmidt and bassist Michael Sharfe were already playing with Von Ohlen at the Blue Wisp, in the Steve Schmidt Trio, Wednesday through Saturday nights, so the rhythm section was easily formed.

Von Ohlen remembers approaching Paul and Marjean Wisby, the original owners of the Blue Wisp, with the idea, “Wednesday is a slow night. Why don’t we bring in a big band and blow the roof off the place. It worked real good.”

Since its inception, the Blue Wisp Big Band has been the top jazz orchestra in Cincinnati. The hard bop-oriented big band started recording in 1981: first, an LP sponsored by the Cincinnati television station, WKRC and then four for the Mopro label, founded by Fred and Helen Morr, in the 1980’s. The Mopro LP’s were reissued in the mid -’90s on two CDs on the California label, Sea Breeze, with one of the sets recorded in Los Angeles during a West Coast tour in 1984. Through the devoted and hard work of Helen Morr, the LP’s were distributed around the country and Europe, garnering notice, good reviews and airplay around the world. Among the group’s more notable members were trumpeter Tim Hagans and bassist Lynn Seaton.

The band continued to perform at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club in Cincinnati on Wednesday nights until its closure in the summer of 2014.

After a six month tenure at Japp’s Annex in downtown Cincinnati, the band currently performs on Tuesday evenings at the Pirate’s Den in Westwood from 8:30 until 11:00.

Awards

2014 and 2015 Cincinnati Entertainment Award 1999 Michael Bany Lifetime Achievement Award 1997-98 Cammy


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211
Album Review

Blue Wisp Big Band: Tribute

Read "Tribute" reviewed by Edward Blanco


A legendary regional ensemble from Cincinnati, the Blue Wisp Big Band has, for the last twenty-five years, performed every Wednesday evening at the famed Blue Wisp Jazz Club in Cincinnati, owned and operated by Marjean Wisby until her passing in August 2006. The album pays Tribute to the memory of the late owner and also celebrates the music of jazz giants, among them Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson and Billy Strayhorn.

Having been around for a quarter ...

171
Album Review

The Blue Wisp Big Band: A Night At The Wisp

Read "A Night At The Wisp" reviewed by Russell Moon


The Blue Wisp Big Band is a 16 piece orchestra which has performed every Wednesday since 1980 at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club in Cincinnati, Ohio, with few changes in personnel. A Night At The Wisp is the band's first recording of a performance at that venue. The band is led by saxophonists Larry Dickson and Joe Gaudio.

This orchestra really swings. I know of no other album whose whole is so much greater than the sum of its parts. ...

83
Album Review

Blue Wisp Big Band: 20th Anniversary

Read "20th Anniversary" reviewed by Dave Nathan


Perhaps setting a record for longevity among contemporary big bands, the Cincinnati based0Blue Wisp Big Band celebrates its 29th anniversary with a release of exciting arrangements of tunes that, for the most part, are composed by well-known musicians. There are cuts by Steve Allen, Bill Evans, Bob Brookmeyer among others, wrapped in captivating arrangements by Matt Harris and Larry Dickson. Not satisfied with simply knee jerk imitations of approaches taken by others, the music has been given a new look ...

152
Album Review

Blue Wisp Big Band: 20th Anniversary

Read "20th Anniversary" reviewed by Jim Santella


The program opens with a Matt Harris tune that resembles “All Blues." Big band arrangements by Harris, Al Kiger, Larry Dickson, and Steve Allee provide a format that allows plenty of room for swinging. This ensemble gets together every Wednesday night at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club: the band's weekly gig in Cincinnati. They released five LPs in the '80s, but no more until now. Drummer John Von Ohlen, 60, helped start this band in 1980. Thirteen of the original ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Tribute

Sea Breeze Jazz
2007

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A Night At The Wisp

Sea Breeze Jazz
2004

buy

20th Anniversary

Sea Breeze Jazz
2001

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