Jon Irabagon is a Filipino-American saxophonist, composer, and founder of Irabbagast Records. Winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition and one of '' Time Outs "25 essential New York City jazz icons", Irabagon is known for the breadth of his work on a jazz continuum ranging "from postbop to free improvisation, avant country to doom metal". His "extraordinary eclecticism" has led to performances with such diverse artists as

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, and music instructor, who is currently the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has been active in promoting classical and jazz music, often to young ...

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...

Evan Parker Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation. Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free ja ...

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...

, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Bertha Hope,

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

Conor Oberst Conor Mullen Oberst (born February 15, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his work in Bright Eyes (band), Bright Eyes. He has also played in several other bands, including Desaparecidos (band), Desaparecidos, the Faint (previou ...

Christian McBride Christian McBride (born May 31, 1972) is an American jazz bassist, composer and arranger. He has appeared on more than 400 recordings as a sideman, and is a nine-time Grammy Award winner. McBride has performed and recorded with a number of jaz ...

, Mike Pride,

Kenny Barron Kenneth Barron (born June 9, 1943) is an American jazz pianist and composer who has appeared on hundreds of recordings as leader and sideman and is considered one of the most influential mainstream jazz pianists since the bebop era. Early life ...

, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society,

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, wo ...

, Peter Evans,

Tyshawn Sorey Tyshawn Sorey (born July 8, 1980) is an American composer, multi-instrumentalist, and professor of contemporary music. Sorey has received accolades for performances, recordings, and compositions ranging from improvised solo percussion to opera, ...

Ingrid Laubrock Ingrid Laubrock (born 24 September 1970) is a German jazz saxophonist, who primarily plays tenor saxophone but also performs and records on soprano, alto, and baritone saxophones. She studied with Jean Toussaint, Dave Liebman and at the Guildha ...

Ava Mendoza Ava Mendoza is an American guitarist, vocalist, and composer. An avant-garde artist whose work is described as traversing a number of genres, Mendoza has performed with a wide range of musicians, including Nels Cline, Matana Roberts, Nick Zinne ...

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, and

Tom Rainey Tom Rainey (born 1957) is an American jazz drummer. Career After attending Berklee College of Music he moved to New York in 1979. He has played with Tim Berne, Nels Cline, Drew Gress, Mark Helias, Fred Hersch, Tony Malaby, Simon Nabatov, Tom ...

. Irabagon's many projects as bandleader include a quartet with Luis Perdomo, Yasushi Nakamura, and Rudy Royston, as well as a trio with

Mark Helias Mark Helias (born October 1, 1950) is an American double bass player and composer born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He started playing the double bass at the age of 20, and studied with Homer Mensch at Rutgers University from 1971 to 1974, then ...

and Barry Altschul. He is also a member of the

Mary Halvorson Mary Halvorson (born October 16, 1980) is an American avant-garde jazz composer and guitarist from Brookline, Massachusetts. Among her many collaborations, she has: led a trio with and Ches Smith, and a quintet with the addition of Jon Iraba ...

Quintet, Septet, and Octet; the Dave Douglas Quintet;

Barry Altschul Barry Altschul (born January 6, 1943, in New York City) is a free jazz and hard bop drummer who first came to notice in the late 1960s for performing with pianists Paul Bley and Chick Corea. Biography Altschul is of Russian Jewish heritage, ...

’s 3Dom Factor; and is a former member of Mostly Other People Do the Killing. Irabagon received a Philippine Presidential Award in 2014.

Education and career

Irabagon grew up in Chicago’s northern suburbs before attending DePaul, where he completed his BM in Music Business in 2000. In 2001, Irabagon moved to New York City and enrolled in a master's degree at

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...

; after completing his MA, he went on to study in the jazz program at

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named aft ...

. In 2003, Irabagon joined Peter Evans and Kevin Shea in Moppa Elliott's Mostly Other People Do the Killing, a quartet known for both technical skill and a "prankish exterior"; their first album was released on Elliott's Hot Cup Records in 2005. Irabagon went on to record eleven albums with the group, including their controversial note-for-note remake of

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

's ''

Kind of Blue ''Kind of Blue'' is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released on August17,1959, by Columbia Records. For this album, Davis led a sextet featuring saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, pianist Bill Ev ...

''. In 2008, Innova released Irabagon's first album as leader, ''Jon Irabagon’s Outright!''. The record's core quintet includes trumpeter Russ Johnson, pianist

Kris Davis Kris Davis (born 1980) is a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. Early life Davis was born in Vancouver in 1980 and grew up in Calgary, Alberta. She studied classical piano from the age of six and discovered jazz while a high school student. She ...

, bassist Eivind Opsvik, and drummer Jeff Davis, all of whom also provide vocals on a track with the 14-member Outright! Mixed Choir; another track, "Outright! Theme", features a 30-member jazz band. Later that year, Irabagon was announced winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition by judges

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary comp ...

Jimmy Heath James Edward Heath (October 25, 1926 – January 19, 2020), nicknamed Little Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader. He was the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath. Biography Heath w ...

Greg Osby Greg Osby (born August 3, 1960) is an American saxophonist and composer. Biography Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Osby studied at Howard University, then at the Berklee College of Music. He moved to New York City in 1982, where he played with Jak ...

Jane Ira Bloom Jane Ira Bloom (born January 12, 1955) is an American jazz soprano saxophonist and composer. Early years Bloom was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Joel and Evelyn Bloom. She began as a pianist and drummer, later switching to the alto saxophon ...

, and David Sánchez. The award included a cash prize, some of which went toward studies with Roscoe Mitchell, and a contract with

Concord Records Concord Records is an American record label owned by Concord and based in Los Angeles, California. Concord Records was launched in 1995 as an imprint designed to reach beyond the company's foundational Concord Jazz label. The label's artists ha ...

, the label that released Irabagon's ''The Observer'' in 2009. In the first of several dual-disparate-release years, the more conservative album was preceded by ''I Don't Hear Nothin' But The Blues'', a one-track, metal-tinged improvisation with drummer Mike Pride. In 2010, Firehouse 12 Records released the

Quintet's ''Saturn Sings'', the first of four releases Irabagon recorded with the composer and guitarist; following the quintet's second album, they appeared on

NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...

Tiny Desk Concerts ''Tiny Desk Concerts'' is a video series of live concerts hosted by NPR Music at the desk of former ''All Songs Considered'' host Bob Boilen in Washington, D.C. The first ''Tiny Desk Concert'' came about in 2008 after Boilen and NPR Music edit ...

. Halvorson and Irabagon continued performing together in various arrangements, and Irabagon appeared on her septet and octet releases. ''

The New York City Jazz Record ''The New York City Jazz Record'' is a New York City based monthly free newspaper about jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries ...

'' named Irabagon a "Musician of the Year" after an extremely active 2012: Irabagon was featured on the acclaimed '' Be Still'', the first of four albums he recorded with the Dave Douglas Quintet, as well as on the Mary Halvorson Quintet's highly lauded '' Bending Bridges''. He officially launched Irabbagast Records, in part because he doubted that his more "extreme" projects would be considered marketable to other labels. He marked Irabbagast's debut with two releases as bandleader: ''I Don't Hear Nothin' But The Blues Volume 2: Appalachian Haze'', a trio with

and Mike Pride; and ''Outright! Unhinged'', his quintet with

Ralph Alessi Ralph Alessi (born March 5, 1963) is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and ECM recording artist. Alessi is known as a virtuosic performer whose critically-acclaimed projects include his Baida Quartet, with Jason Moran, Drew Gress, and Nas ...

Jacob Sacks Jacob Sacks is an American jazz pianist and composer. Life and career Sacks is originally from Michigan.Ratliff, Ben (October 19, 1999) "A Contest Befitting Monk". ''The New York Times''. pp. E1, E4. He met drummer Dan Weiss at the Manhattan Sc ...

, John Hébert, and

. He was also awarded the National Association of Filipino-Americans' Mabuhay Award. In 2015, Irabagon again released two albums as leader: ''Behind the Sky'' was recorded with his quartet of Luis Perdomo, Yasushi Nakamura, and Rudy Royston, joined by guest Tom Harrell; ''Inaction is An Action'' is an experimental solo

sopranino saxophone The sopranino saxophone is the second-smallest member of the saxophone family. It is tuned in the key of E♭, and sounds an octave higher than the alto saxophone. A sopranino in F was also described in Adolphe Sax's patent, an octave above an F ...

record employing extensive use of

extended technique In music, extended technique is unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional methods of singing or of playing musical instruments employed to obtain unusual sounds or timbres.Burtner, Matthew (2005).Making Noise: Extended Techniques after Exper ...

s. In the 2019 ''

DownBeat ''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...

'' International Critics Poll, Irabagon was included in the "Rising Star" listings for tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, and jazz artist.

Discography

"Year" indicates year of release.

As leader

As co-leader

As sideperson (selected)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irabagon, Jon Living people 21st-century American saxophonists American jazz saxophonists American jazz composers American musicians of Filipino descent Year of birth missing (living people) Avant-garde jazz saxophonists American experimental musicians Avant-garde jazz musicians 21st-century American composers 21st-century American jazz composers