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Jennifer Wharton

Jennifer Wharton is a low brass specialist based in New York City. Though getting her start classically, Jen has deep roots in jazz, commercial, chamber and Broadway music. She won’t stop until she has conquered the world!

These days, Jennifer can be found leading her trombone-forward ensemble, Bonegasm, and performing in Paradise Square but has also held positions at West Side Story, King Kong, Beautiful, The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Jekyll and Hyde, Scandalous, Wonderland, 9 to 5 and Curtains, as well as performing as a substitute in over a dozen other Broadway productions.

Jen is a member of two multiple Grammy-nominated ensembles, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society and Alan Ferber Big Band. She has also performed on the Grammy-nominated cast albums for The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess, 9 to 5 The Musical and Curtains The Musical as well as the Grammy-winning recording of Beautiful The Carole King Musical.

She has performed and/or recorded with ensembles including the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie All Star Band, Ken Peplowski Big Band, Miggy Augmented Jazz Orchestra, DIVA Jazz Orchestra, Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Birdland Big Band, Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra, Woody Herman Orchestra, Terraza 7 Big Band, John Yao and His 17 Piece Instrument, Walking Distance, South Florida Jazz Orchestra, new Alchemy Jazz Orchestra, Steven Feifke Big Band, and the BMI Jazz Composers’ Workshop.

Jennifer is an XO Professional Brass artist and plays the 1240-LT bass trombone. She teaches bass trombone at Montclair State University in New Jersey.

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Radio & Podcasts

Interview with Jennifer Wharton, jazz trombonist & band leader of Bonegasm

Read "Interview with Jennifer Wharton, jazz trombonist & band leader of Bonegasm" reviewed by Doug Hall


My guest is Jennifer Wharton a low brass specialist based in New York City. Though getting her start classically, Jen has deep roots in jazz, commercial, chamber and Broadway music. Jennifer leads the trombone-forward ensemble, Bonegasm, commissioning works from jazz heavyweights and newcomers. She was awarded a 2020 grant by the NYC Women's Fund for Media, Music and Theater to continue to bring trombone music to the masses. The result was Bonegasm's sophomore album, Not A Novelty (2021), ...

37
Album Review

Jennifer Wharton's Bonegasm: Grit & Grace

Read "Grit & Grace" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Asked to name the traits women most need to succeed in today's business world, Forbes magazine in a 2019 article underlined two of them as “grit and grace." One woman who took the advice to heart is bass trombonist Jennifer Wharton. She came late to jazz but has since made it her domain of choice, founding the trombone-centric septet Bonegasm and recording three albums under its name, the most recent of which, Grit & Grace, endorses Forbes' position by using ...

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Album Review

Jennifer Wharton's Bonegasm: Grit & Grace

Read "Grit & Grace" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Blessed be the 'bone of invention and intention that is Jennifer Wharton. A mere six years ago, the noted bass trombonist had the idea to form a slide-centric septet and commission new music to bring her oft-neglected and ballasting instrument to the fore. Driven to act on that concept, Wharton thought things through, put a plan in motion and willed Bonegasm into existence. That aptly-titled band recorded its eponymous debut in 2018, released that revelation of a record in 2019, ...

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Album Review

Remy Le Boeuf: Architecture of Storms

Read "Architecture of Storms" reviewed by Jack Bowers


It's hard to become bored or complacent when listening to Architecture of Storms, alto saxophonist Remy Le Boeuf's second album as leader of the twenty-member Assembly of Shadows orchestra. Every song is quite different from the others, and every one has its moments of shapeliness and charm. Le Boeuf arranged every number and composed all but Justin Vernon's “Minnesota, WI" and the album's nameplate, which he co-wrote with poet Sara Pirkle, he asserts, “on a brooding stormy ...

Album Review

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society: Dynamic Maximum Tension

Read "Dynamic Maximum Tension" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Precursore nel 2009 (con l'innovativo Infernal Machines) del nuovo rinascimento orchestrale nel jazz, Darcy James Argue approda all'etichetta Nonesuch e pubblica il nuovo album in studio: un doppio CD realizzato con i consueti partner della Secret Society più l'aggiunta della cantante Cecile McLorin Salvant e della violinista Sara Caswell. A differenza degli ultimi due dischi, Dynamic Maximum Tension non è un'opera multimediale ma conserva la spinta visionaria animata dalla costante riflessione socio-politica. Spinta che si traduce in ...

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Album Review

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society: Dynamic Maximum Tension

Read "Dynamic Maximum Tension" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright


Darcy James Argue's superb double-album Nonesuch debut offers compositions written throughout his career. He turns to twentieth-century thinkers for “ideas that can help us in the present, that we can reexamine and reconfigure for our own purposes." These include futurist designer Buckminster Fuller, cryptanalyst-computer scientist Alan Turing, composer-arranger Bob Brookmeyer, actress-screenwriter Mae West, trumpeter-mentor Laurie Frink, and musician-beyond-category Duke Ellington, among others. Like West, Argue seems to control his own path. He may not yet be the tycoon she was, ...

Album Review

Steven Feifke: The Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra

Read "The Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Metti assieme un talentoso giovane orchestratore come Steven Feifke, un trombettista di prima grandezza come Bijon Watson e una big band con grandi nomi e prestigiosi ospiti e il risultato è scontato. Il debutto della Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra è stato propiziato dalla collaborazione col Jazz Education Network ed ha assunto le vesti di un album includendo in organico ospiti di rilievo come Kurt Elling, Sean Jones e Chad Lefkowitz Brown. Il principale riferimento è la tradizione ...

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Interview

Interview: Jennifer Wharton

Interview: Jennifer Wharton

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

A couple of weeks ago while flying through Facebook, I saw on photographer John Abbott's page that he'd just finished a shoot with bass trombonist Jennifer Wharton. I've known John for years and in addition to being a great guy, he's a marvelous portraitist. When I asked him about Jennifer, he wrote back, “Jen Wharton is a fantastic musician and a cool person. I’ve done her last two covers for her band, Bonegasm. She’s probably a great interview." He was ...

"Trombone Ecstasy" - Downbeat

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Dynamic Maximum...

Nonesuch Records
2023

buy

Grit & Grace

Sunnyside Records
2023

buy

The Generation Gap...

Cellar Records
2022

buy

Kinetic

Outside in Music
2021

buy

Not A Novelty

Sunnyside Records
2021

buy

Daring Mind

Motéma Music
2021

buy

Be Normal

From: Grit & Grace
By Jennifer Wharton

Revived Mind

From: Daring Mind
By Jennifer Wharton

Videos

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