The NSJO, although a short history as an assembled group, has a long history of performing together. The core horn group of the NSJO is “The Tuscaloosa Horns” (tuscaloosahorns.com) who have been one of Motown's top call horn lines since the mid 80s performing with groups such as The 4 Tops, Mary Wilson & The Supremes, The O'Jays, Levert & are on the latest Temptations recording “Awesome”. Add a few more horn players, a rhythm section, incredible soloists & contemporary big band charts & you have the New South Jazz Orchestra.
Each musician in the group has incredible performance and teaching credentials in the commercial genres of Jazz/Funk/R&B. Many of the members of the NSJO are among the top music/jazz educators in the Southeast region of the U.S. and have consistent performance and/or clinic schedules.
With each member having vast musical differences and influences, the charts are all created with a member of the group in mind (much like “Duke” Ellington's compositional concept). For example the ferocity of Alto Sax soloist Mace Hibbard puts an exclamation point on the musical intensity of the opening track “Harlem Chaser”. The arrangement of “Stompin' @ The Savoy” would not have been possible if it weren't for Demondrae Thurman (tubaquartet.com) & Doug Bristol (bristolnotes.com) being world class Euphonium players as well as Tom Wolfe adding an incredibly lush & musical guitar solo before the melodic recap. To completely change styles from either of the previous tunes mentioned, Composer/Trombonist Chad Fisher brings an original small group tune that was blown up into a Hip-Hop/Funk big band chart. The fluidity of soloists Gary Wheat & Chad Fisher make this odd meter tune groove even harder.
Aside from the Tuscaloosa Horns, many of the members of the NSJO are also involved in their own groups; Jimmy Bowland (comp. “Soul Pie” & Tenor Sax) has completed two CDs with “The Rigby/Bowland Project” (rigbybowlandproject.com), Mace Hibbard heads up the “Mace Hibbard Quartet” (macehibbard.com), Chad Fisher (comp. “At Home” & Trombone) leads the “Chad Fisher Group” (chadfishergroup.com), Gary Wheat is a founding member of Meteorite (meteoritemusic.com), Tom Wolfe heads up his trio with the his current release “Simple Peace”, and Vocalist Annie McClendon has two releases out with Annie & The Mood Swings.
The NSJO focuses on entertaining Jazz/Big Band music while keeping the integrity of the artform. The group is highly entertaining, energetic & professional.
