The Metropolitan Jazz Octet (MJO) was a group created in the 1950s by

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

saxophonist and arranger Tom Hilliard that was revived in 2014 under the direction of Hilliard's student Jim Gailloreto.

Early history

From the late 1950s to the 1980s Hilliard wrote many of the group's 150-plus charts. He also worked with Chicago’s top arrangers to expand the library. In 1959, the group recorded a single album on the

Argo In Greek mythology, the ''Argo'' ( ; ) was the ship of Jason and the Argonauts. The ship was built with divine aid, and some ancient sources describe her as the first ship to sail the seas. The ''Argo'' carried the Argonauts on their quest fo ...

label called ''The Legend of Bix'', a tribute to 1920s cornetist and composer

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke ( ; March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical a ...

. On the recording was Tom Hilliard - tenor sax, Ed Haley - trumpet, Ed Avis - valve trombone, Dave Edwards (musician) - alto sax, Ben Baileys - baritone sax, Angelo Principali - piano, Gerry Lofstrum - bass, Jim Gianas - drums. A professor at

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

School of Music in the 1970s, Hilliard left the MJO library to his former student tenor saxophonist Jim Gailloreto when his health began to fail.

Current History

The charts remained in Gailloreto’s basement for many years until 2014 (57 years after the group was formed) when Jim organized a group of musicians to read through some of the arrangements. Rehearsals took place at Andy's Music on Chicago's Northwest side. Realizing the treasure trove of music in this library, the group began performing and the Metropolitan Jazz Octet was brought back to life. In 2015 the group played a concert at Roosevelt University School of Music featuring the music from Tom Hilliard’s album ''The Legend of Bix''. From 2014 to the present while exploring and performing the original MJO music, current members of the group began adding new arrangements of their own. In 2018 the MJO recorded ''The Road to Your Place'' a compilation of original compositions and upended arrangements of classics by Gailloreto, and alto saxophonist John Kornegay. In addition to Gailloreto and Kornegay, the group includes Peter Brusen - Baritone Sax, Doug Scharf - trumpet, Russ Phillips - trombone, Bob Sutter - piano, Doug Bistrow - bass, Bob Rummage - drums. ''It's Too Hot For Words'', an MJO recording with singer

Dee Alexander Deleatrice "Dee" Alexander is an American jazz singer. She is a member of the AACM and appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival in 2013. Alexander is the host of ''Sunday Jazz with Dee Alexander'', a radio show on WDCB and the WFMT Radio Network. ...

, celebrates Billie Holiday and was released on

Delmark Records Delmark Records is an independent, American jazz and blues independent record label. It was founded in 1958 as Delmar Records and is based in Chicago, Illinois. The label originated in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953 when then owner, and founder, ...

in 2019. ''It's Too Hot For Words'' received major jazz publication reviews including Jazztimes and Downbeat magazine, and was a Chicago Tribune pick for best jazz album in 2019. ''The Bowie Project'', with singer Paul Marinaro, reimagines the music of David Bowie and was released on

Origin Records Origin Records is a jazz and classical music record label founded by drummer John Bishop in 1997.de Barros, Paul (July 2, 2002)Small label, big noise: Ballard's Origin Records drumming up national interest Seattle Times. With the help of drummer M ...

in 2023. This recording includes Ben Lewis on piano and adds vibraphonist Mike Freeman, who was also a student of Tom Hilliard at DePaul in the late 1970s, and percussionist Joe Sonnefeldt to the MJO octet instrumentation.

Discography

* Metropolitan Jazz Octet ''The Bowie Project'', 2023, Origin Records * Metropolitan Jazz Octet ''It's Too Hot For Words'', 2019, Delmark Records * Metropolitan Jazz Octet ''The Road To Your Place'', 2018 * Metropolitan Jazz Octet ''The Bix'', 1959, Argo Records

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.metropolitanjazzoctet.com Jazz ensembles from Illinois