John McNeil

John McNeil (* 23. March 1948 in Yreka , Northern California ) is an American jazz - trumpet and flugelhorn player and composer , arranger and music producer .

Live and act

John McNeil is self-taught ; after graduating from high school in 1966, he began working as a professional musician in northern California. In the mid-1970s he moved to New York and worked there as a freelance musician, played with the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra and led his own formations with which he performed in clubs such as Boomer's .

In the late 1970s, McNeil became a member of the Horace Silver Quintet. Around this time he began to record with his own trio, quartet and quintet formations for the SteepleChase label ; so in 1978 the album Embarkation was created with Bob Berg , Joanne Brackeen , Rufus Reid and Billy Hart . In 1979 he worked for his album Faun with Dave Liebman and Richard Beirach ; In 1979 he had a quintet with Tom Harrell ( Look to the Sky ). In 1983 he worked with Jesper Lundgaard and Doug Raney . He also worked as a sideman with Gerry Mulligan . In the 1990s he worked increasingly as a composer, arranger and producer. At the end of the 90s he had a piano-less quartet with the saxophonist and clarinetist Kenny Burger. Latin jazz and free jazz elements came into his play in his albums for OmniTone , which were made in the 2000s .

Discographic notes

• Fortuity (SteepleChase, 2001)
• This Way Out (Omintone, 2003)
• Sleep Won't Come (Omnitone, 2004)
• East Coast Cool (Omnitone, 2006)
• Rediscovery (Omnitone, 2009)
• John McNeil / Bill McHenry : Chill Morn He Climb Jenny (Sunnyside, 2011)
• John McNeil & Mike Fahie: Plainsong (Destiny Records, 2018), with Ethan Iverson , Joe Martin , Billy Hart

Web links

• Web presence
• Allmusic
• Portrait and Interview (2014)

swell

• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .