Wycliffe
Gordon Quartet featuring Matt Wilson
 Wycliffe’s
trombone playing, described as “mixing powerful,
intricate runs with sweet notes extended over clean melodies,”
has made him one of today’s leading performers of hardswinging,
straight ahead jazz. Gordon received the Jazz
Journalists Association 2002 and 2001 Award for Trombonist
of the Year, the Jazz Journalists Association 2000 Critics’
Choice Award for Best Trombone and has been nominated
for the Jazzpar Award.
Born in Waynesboro, Georgia, Gordon was
first introduced to music by his late father, Lucius Gordon, a classical
pianist and teacher. His interest in the trombone was sparked at
age twelve by his elder brother who played the instrument in his
junior high school band. A year
later, an aunt bequeathed Gordon her jazz record collection, and
so began his passion for jazz
music.
Wycliffe is a former veteran member of the Wynton Marsalis Septet,
The Lincoln Center Jazz
Orchestra, and The Gully Low Jazz Band, and has been a featured guest
artist on Billy Taylor’s
“Jazz at The Kennedy Center” Series. His numerous recordings
include ten solo CDs and three
co-leader CDs, of which the latest are “Cone’s Coup,” “Standards
Only” and “The Rhythm
of My Mind” (with Jay Leonhart). A gifted composer and arranger,
he was commissioned to
compose a vibrant new score for the 1925 classic silent film “Body
and Soul” (notable as the
screen debut of Paul Robeson), which was premiered at the Lincoln
Center Jazz Orchestra’s
2000–01 season opening night performance at Avery Fisher Hall. Gordon’s
compositions have
been performed by The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, The Wynton Marsalis
Septet, The
Wycliffe Gordon Quartet, The Brass Band of Battle Creek and numerous
other ensembles, and
performed in programs throughout the U.S. and abroad.
Gordon’s television appearances have included the Grammy Awards,
the PBS special
documentary “Swingin’ with the Duke,” and two Live
from Lincoln Center broadcasts with the
Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra—“Uptown Blues, Ellington
at 100” (a collaboration with the New
York Philharmonic) and “Big Train.” Gordon also appeared
in Ken Burns’ documentary “Jazz.”
Other television appearances include “A Carnegie Hall Christmas
Concert” and “Live from
Lincoln Center: The Juilliard School at 100 Years.”
Gordon is rapidly becoming one of America’s most persuasive and
committed music educators.
He currently serves on the faculty of the Jazz Studies Program at
The Juilliard School, a position
he has held since the founding of the program. Gordon is currently
working on a collection of
trombone quartets, trios and duos to be entitled “Trombone
Majesty,” with
expected publication
in late 2006. In addition, his first method book “Wycliffe
Gordon’s
Suggested Studies for
Trombone,” a compilation of the materials, exercises and approaches
he uses in his teaching and in his own practice regimen, will be released in January 2007.
Gordon is the youngest member of the U.S. Statesmen of Jazz, and
in many tour performances
has served and continues to serve as a musical ambassador for the
U.S. State Department.
To read a feature article about Wycliffe and his work with Stanford Jazz Workshop written by Rebecca Wallace for the Palo Alto Weekly , click here for our "Media Archives" page.
To find out more about Wycliffe, go to wycliffegordon.com |
