Bobby Zankel

Bobby Zankel

Musicians | Instrument: Saxophone, alto | Location: Philadelphia

He’s headed to status as a prime jazz innovator.

—Jazz Times Magazine

Updated: August 1, 2023

Born: December 21, 1949

Writing in the Boston Phoenix, author Norman Weinstein (A Night in Tunisia) declared that “Bobby Zankel deserves any Talent Deserving Wider Recognition Award that the jazz press might offer”.

In reviewing Emerging From The Earth, Jazz Times wrote,” He’s headed to status as a prime jazz innovator.” But who is Bobby Zankel, and where has he been? The Brooklyn-born composer/saxophonist first began attracting attention in the early 70’s for his work with Cecil Taylor’s “Unit Core Ensemble” (Downbeat 9/71) as a “skillful young altoist with a powerful music at his fingertips”. His underground reputation grew on the New York “Loft Scene”, where he performed with the likes of Ray Anderson, William Parker, and Sunny Murray and where he continued his apprenticeship with Taylor.

Zankel became a Philadelphian in 1975 to raise his family and to expand his artistic vision without heed to commercialism or the trends of the times. Since 1975 his performances as a sideman have ranged from the Hank Mobley/Sonny Gillete Quintet, to Jymmie Merritt’s Forerunners, to the Dells, NRBQ, Odean Pope’s Saxophone Choir, Ruth Naomi Floyd, and European work with Taylor. Zankel’s intensive studies of tonality and rhythms with Maestro Dennis Sandole have lead to his development into one of the most brilliant and original composers of the '90’s. His alto playing has been described as a unique amalgam of the precision and rhythmic intricacy of be-bop, with the soul and drive of hard bop, and the fire, spirituality, creativity and intensity of the avant garde.

Zankel’s tenure in Philadelphia has been marked by a series of acclaimed collaborations with choreographers, writers, and visual artists (funded by a variety of grants, and commissions), four that have resulted in three ballets and one opera. In 1995 he was honored to receive the prestigious PEW FELLOWSHIP (the largest monetary grant that one can apply for in the US) for his writing. Zankel’s compositions, which are characterized by a stunning blend of rhythmic layers, a highly personal, complex, chromatic harmonic language, and a hauntingly beautiful melodic lyricism, have been performed by such diverse musicians as Johnny Coles, Odean Pope, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Lester Bowie, Marilyn Crispell, Ralph Peterson Jr...The introspection of the composer’s life, is balanced by more than a decade of “artist in residence” programs in the Pennsylvania prisons.


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21
Interview

Bobby Zankel: The Inside Story of 'A Change of Destiny'

Read "Bobby Zankel: The Inside Story of 'A Change of Destiny'" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


Saxophonist, bandleader, composer and arranger Bobby Zankel has been making jazz in many ways with diverse cohorts for over a half-century. He has found his own way to create music that is both advanced and very listenable at the same time. He is loved and revered by the many musicians who have performed with him and by his audiences and fan base, especially as a result of the recordings and performances of his Warriors of the Wonderful Sound Big Band, ...

7
Album Review

Warriors of the Wonderful Sound: Soundpath

Read "Soundpath" reviewed by Mark Corroto


If we alter President John F. Kennedy's 1962 moon spaceflight speech just a bit, it easily fits the big band adaptation of Muhal Richard Abrams' magnum opus Soundpath, “We choose to perform this composition not because it is easy, but because it is hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept." Accepting the challenge was band leader Bobby Zankel and ...

2
Album Review

Warriors of the Wonderful Sound: Soundpath

Read "Soundpath" reviewed by Giuseppe Segala


Nel 2011 il sassofonista di Filadelfia Bobby Zankel, leader della big band The Warriors of the Wonderful Sound e promotore di laboratori di musica contemporanea, propose a Muhal Richard Abrams un lavoro compositivo che avrebbe dovuto essere affidato alla band, con la direzione dello stesso pianista. Operazioni di questo tipo erano già state realizzate da Zankel negli anni precedenti con le musiche per big band di Julius Hemphill, dirette da Marty Ehrlich, poi con composizioni di Rudresh Mahanthappa e Steve ...

10
Extended Analysis

Soundpath

Read "Soundpath" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


Muhal Richard Abrams (1930-2017) was a revered pianist, composer and teacher of great capability and range who, in addition to his own achievements, inspired and influenced many jazz musicians in both the mainstream and avant-garde categories. Largely self-taught as a result of a personal decision to follow his own path, and early on pursuing church music, big band, blues, bebop and avant-garde jazz in his home city of jny: Chicago, he grasped music from its roots, and so was able ...

1
Live Review

Bobby Zankel's Warriors Play Muhal Richard Abrams at October Revolution

Read "Bobby Zankel's Warriors Play Muhal Richard Abrams at October Revolution" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


Bobby Zankel's Warriors Of The Wonderful Sound Marty Ehrlich, Conductor The Music Of Muhal Richard Abrams: Soundpath October Revolution Festival Christ Church Neighborhood House (Great Hall) Philadelphia, PA October 7, 2018 The late great pianist Muhal Richard Abrams was for many years a major force in modern jazz, accompanying a host of legendary and emerging new musicians, making ground-breaking recordings, and developing new musical forms ...

5
Album Review

Bobby Zankel: Celebrating William Parker at 65

Read "Celebrating William Parker at 65" reviewed by John Sharpe


To mark bassist William Parker's 65th birthday, Philly-based reedman Bobby Zankel convened an all star sextet which included the honoree for a presentation of free jazz collectivism at the city's Painted Bride Arts Center in January 2017. Although not regular collaborators, they go back a long way. The pair first hooked up back in the loft jazz era when both gravitated towards Cecil Taylor's orbit, to perform in the pianist's legendary Carnegie Hall large ensemble concert. Taylor, and particularly his ...

2
Live Review

Bobby Zankel Wonderful Sound 4 at Da Vinci Art Alliance

Read "Bobby Zankel Wonderful Sound 4 at Da Vinci Art Alliance" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


Bobby Zankel's Wonderful Sound 4 Featuring Sumi Tonooka (Additional Performances by Vocalist Bonnie Lander and Sirius JuJu Quintet) Fire Museum Presents @ DVAA Da Vinci Art Alliance Philadelphia, PA March 24. 2018 This show afforded a rare opportunity in an intimate setting to hear the great Philly-grown pianist Sumi Tonooka with Bobby Zankel, a cutting edge alto saxophonist admired for his composing, arranging, and band leading. So ...

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5

Recording

Alto Saxophonist-composer Bobby Zankel Shines A Brilliant Light On American, Philadelphia History With 'A Change Of Destiny,' Due September 22 From Mahakala Records

Alto Saxophonist-composer Bobby Zankel Shines A Brilliant Light On American, Philadelphia History With 'A Change Of Destiny,' Due September 22 From Mahakala Records

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Philadelphia alto saxophonist and composer Bobby Zankel explores a darker side of his longtime city’s history with A Change of Destiny, set for a September 22 release on Mahakala Records. The album is a distillation of music that Zankel wrote for a dance piece, The Spirits Break to Freedom, in the 2010s, and was recorded with Zankel’s Wonderful Sound 8 (a byproduct of his Warriors of the Wonderful Sound Big Band), featuring Philadelphia jazz greats drummer Pheeroan AkLaff, trombonist Robin ...

1

Event

When Haiku Inspires Music: Bobby Zankel Ensemble Performs Original Composition Celebrating Peace

When Haiku Inspires Music: Bobby Zankel Ensemble Performs Original Composition Celebrating Peace

Source: Victor L. Schermer

Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane inspired saxophonist and composer Bobby Zankel is usually heard with his Warriors of the Wonderful Sound big band performing large-scale compositions such as his recent re-setting of Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. Here, on the occasion of a celebration of mural art, which has turned numerous outside walls of jny: Philadelphia buildings into high art, Zankel was inspired to produce a more compact piece for six instrumentalists and singer. The stimulus for the composition was a ...

Performance / Tour

Bobby Zankel's Warriors Of The Wonderful Sound In Old City Philadelphia Thursday, December 20th!

Bobby Zankel's Warriors Of The Wonderful Sound In Old City Philadelphia Thursday, December 20th!

Source: Jim Miller

Jazz Bridge in Old City Philadelphia! presents saxophonist Bobby Zankel and his Warriors of the Wonderful Sound big band at the Arch Street Friends Meeting House (East Room) — 320 Arch Street in Philadelphia — on Thursday, December 20th. Tickets are $10, $5 for students, and are available only at the door. Show time is 7:30. This Bobby Zankel concert, a birthday celebration for the saxophone maestro himself, promises to be an evening to remember since this acclaimed artist will ...

1

Event

David Leibman, Odean Pope, and Warriors of the Wonderful Sound To Perform Bobby Zankel’s Adaptation Of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme"

David Leibman, Odean Pope, and Warriors of the Wonderful Sound To Perform Bobby Zankel’s Adaptation Of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme"

Source: Victor L. Schermer

Bobby Zankel, saxophonist, composer, arranger, and leader of the pioneering big band, Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, has written his own composition based on the four parts of John Coltrane’s iconic suite and record album, A Love Supreme (Impulse, 1965). It will be premiered on Saturday, September 22, 2012 at 6pm in the open air space at the Walnut Street West Free Library. (The space can be accessed from 40th Street, just below Walnut.) The concert is part of the ...

17

Performance / Tour

Coltrane's Ascension For Ascension Eve Jazz Vespers In Phila. Wed. May 16th!

Coltrane's Ascension For Ascension Eve Jazz Vespers In Phila. Wed. May 16th!

Source: Jim Miller

Saxophonist Bobby Zankel and percussionist Craig McIver will be performing the John Coltrane composition Ascension for the Ascension Eve Jazz Vespers (marking the end of the Easter season) on Wednesday May 16th at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 8000 St. Martin's Lane, Philadelphia PA, at 7:00 PM. The service is free, but a voluntary collection will go to help restore the John Coltrane House (a designated National Historic Site), which has fallen into disrepair. For info: 215-247-7466. Saxophonist and bandleader ...

158

Performance / Tour

The Spirits Break to Freedom - Jazz Collaboration for the President's House on June 12th

The Spirits Break to Freedom - Jazz Collaboration for the President's House on June 12th

Source: Suzanne Cloud

On Sunday, June 12th, at the Christ Church Neighborhood House at 20 N. American Street in Philadelphia, dancer/choreographer Germaine Ingram, composer/musician Bobby Zankel, and visual artist John Dowell will present the latest version of their ongoing creative collaboration commemorating the nine African Americans enslaved by President George Washington in the President's House, the first American “white house" that stood on a site just steps away from where the Liberty Bell is currently housed. Two shows: 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. ...

79

Performance / Tour

Stasis and Change

Stasis and Change

Source: Ars Nova Workshop

On Saturday, April 9, Bobby Zankel and the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound will perform with Steve Coleman at Montgomery County Community College. Funded by the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage through the Philadelphia Music Project, this collaboration with Coleman is the second part of Zankel’s project, “The Wizards of the Saxophone Meet the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound: Creating a 21st Century Jazz Vocabulary.” For the first installment of the series, Philadelphian Zankel’s large ensemble teamed up last ...

75

Interview

Saxophonist Bobby Zankel Interviewed at All About Jazz

Saxophonist Bobby Zankel Interviewed at All About Jazz

Source: John Kelman

For many decades, Philadelphia has been home to a cadre of multi-generational jazz musicians who go on year-after-year composing, arranging and performing some of the best, highest level music to be heard anywhere. This tradition is exemplified in no better way than by alto saxophonist, composer and bandleader Bobby Zankel. Zankel apprenticed with legendary pianist Cecil Taylor and absorbed the most advanced trends of the 1960s and '70s. He then moved to Philadelphia, where he has done his own thing ...

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Performance / Tour

Composer Portrait: Julius Hemphill Bobby Zankel's Warriors of the Wonderful Sound Featuring Marty Ehrlich

Composer Portrait: Julius Hemphill Bobby Zankel's Warriors of the Wonderful Sound Featuring Marty Ehrlich

Source: All About Jazz

Ars Nova Workshop presents: Tonight! Thursday, February 26, 7:30pm (doors at 6pm) Composer Portrait: Julius Hemphill Bobby Zankel's Warriors of the Wonderful Sound Featuring Marty Ehrlich Marty Ehrlich, alto saxophone; Bobby Zankel, alto saxophone; Elliott Levin, tenor saxophone; Dan Peterson, reeds; Dan Scofield, alto saxophone; Bryan Rogers, tenor saxophone; Bart Miltenberger, trumpet; Adam Hershberger, trumpet; Patrick Hughes, trumpet; Tom Madeja, trumpet; Larry Toft, trombone; Dan Blacksberg, trombone; George Barnett, French horn; Adam Lesnick, French horn; Matt Davis, el. ...

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Ceremonies of Forgiveness (Part 1)

From: Ceremonies of Forgiveness
By Bobby Zankel