Mixed Bag – The Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra

Mult-Grammy Finalist, Pete McGuinness, presents his ‘premium’, acclaimed New York City Big Band with skilled, diverse, first-class precision!

In 2025’s jazz world, there are so many styles, genres and ways an artist can be expressive (so many “bags”). For this project, McGuinness’ group’s fourth CD in their roughly 20 years of making music together, he’s included many bags that he loves to write music in and is lucky to have a band that can pull each off in a convincing and musical fashion. Enjoy this Premium NYC Large Jazz Ensemble.

GENRE: Jazz/Large Jazz Ensemble/Big Band
COMPOSERS: Pete McGuinness, Cole Porter, Chris Rogers, Johnny Green, John Lewis, Thelonious Monk, Johnny Mandel

Pete McGuinness – leader/composer/arranger/vocalist

Saxophones/woodwinds: Dave Pietro, Mark Phaneuf, Tom Christensen, Rob Middleton, Dave Riekenberg

Trumpets/flugelhorns: Jon Owens and Tony Kadleck (split leads), Hollis “Bud” Burridge, Chris Rogers

Trombones: Bruce Eidem, Mark Patterson, Matt Haviland, Jeff Nelson

Rhythm section: Pete McCann – guitar (tracks 5 and 7); Mike Holober, Bill Charlap – piano; Mark Wade – bass; Scott Neumann – drums

Violin: Hiroko Taguchi (concert mistress), Whitney LaGrange, Annaliesa Place, Caleb Burhans • Viola: Todd Low, Angela Pickett • Cello: Melissa Westgate, Alon Bisk • Flute: Steve Kenyon • French horn: Chris Kome

This is the first recording that Pete McGuinness has recorded with his band since he had to say goodbye to his beloved trombone a few years ago (due to embouchure dystonia) –  He leads the band with precision – and sings on a number of cuts – he also wrote all the arrangements – writing and singing have always been additional and equal parts of how he expresses himself.

The musicians in the band are more than simply a collection of the some of the most seasoned and professional New York City big band and solo jazz artists (they are indeed that!), they are also good friends with whom Pete has been in the musical trenches since he first began performing in New York back in the late 1980s. They support his efforts with every note they play. A collective resume of their work shows a long list of renowned jazz big bands, led by both old school and contemporary bandleaders, including Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Lionel Hampton, Jimmy Heath, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Maria Schneider, John Fedchock, Darcy James Argue, and many others. All this experience brings a great sense of both maturity and musicality to their performance!

REVIEW:

With Mixed Bag, Pete McGuinness once again affirms his place among the elite of modern big band composers and arrangers, presenting a luminous tapestry of jazz idioms that ranges from the exuberantly traditional to the adventurously modern. As the title suggests, the album is a delightful potpourri. However, rather than feeling scattered or unfocused, McGuinness weaves his eclectic inclinations into a coherent and emotionally engaging statement. He brings to bear not only the encyclopedic command of a seasoned jazz craftsman but also the eager curiosity of an artist determined to explore new terrain…

…In all, the album is a masterful, multifaceted statement from a composer/arranger at the height of his powers.

-Pierre Giroux for All About Jazz

REVIEW:

While the fourth album from The Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra is a deliberately mixed bag in terms of styles and repertoire, it is a model of consistency from start to finish when one considers the high standard of creative innovation behind the arrangements and orchestrations and the superb execution by the leader and his familiar roster of loyal personnel. Over the course of nearly two decades, the veteran players that make up this New York-based ensemble have done a stellar job of upholding the eclectic sensibilities and expansive vision of ace arranger and vocalist McGuinness, a former trombonist who played alongside many of his elite peers in the esteemed big bands of Maria Schneider, Lionel Hampton, Jimmy Heath, Woody Herman (under the direction of Frank Tibieri), Mike Holober and John Fedchock (who lent his skills as session producer for the new recording) as well as Broadway pit orchestras. Mixed Bag, which ranges from serious swing to simmering bossa nova, elegant balladry to bracing modernism, is no exception. In fact, it’s the orchestra’s most ambitious offering to date. McGuinness was spurred to delve deeper as a composer and a vocalist for the album, which marks the group’s first release since he was forced to put down his horn due to a chops-debilitating neurological disorder known as “embouchure dystonia.” A former student of legendary arranger-composers Bob Brookmeyer and Manny Albam, and currently a professor of jazz studies and arranging at William Paterson University, McGuinness emerges undaunted on Mixed Bag, revealing his determination to venture down unexplored avenues…

-Ed Enright for Downbeat

REVIEW:

(4.5 Stars) Award-winning arranger Pete McGuinness has chosen to name the fourth recording by his stellar New York-based Jazz Orchestra Mixed Bag, a term whose meaning may be construed as positive or less so, depending on the context. As he explains in the album’s liner notes, McGuinness accentuates the positive, writing that to him, “Variety has always been the spice of life. I don’t like the feeling of being pigeon-holed into a certain bag…For this project…I’ve included many ‘bags’ that I love to write music in, and am lucky to have a band that can pull each [one] off in a convincing musical fashion. With that in mind, McGuinness has blended a quartet of his impressive original compositions with four treasures from the Great American Songbook…

…a marvelous orchestra playing charismatic charts, all of them his….While jazz has undergone countless changes since bop was king, many longtime fans would no doubt agree that this is the way big bands are supposed to sound.

-Jack Bowes for All About Jazz

REVIEW:

The Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra has been around for about 20 years, but Mixed Bag (Summit – 834) is only their fourth album.  As the title implies, McGuinness who arranged the 11 tracks, has a variety of approaches in creating the charts so well-executed by his 17 piece big band.  The program includes standards, “From This Moment On,” “Body and Soul,” “So in Love” and “Where Do You Start;” som jazz classics, “Django” and “‘Round Midnight; plus four McGuinness originals and one by trumpeter Chris Rogers.  McGuinness adds vocals on “From This Moment On,” “So in Love” and “Where Do You Start.”  Two tracks deserve special mention, “The Sly Fox,” a tune inspired by the arranging genius of Bill Holman, and “Where Do You Start” which has a string section added to a ten-piece jazz ensemble.  With the mix of styles and tempi, Mixed Bag provides an ever-changing listening experience.

-Joseph Lang for Jersey Jazz

REVIEW:

Do you like a classic, versatile big band sound, with great instrumental solos and an orchestra leader who is an excellent jazz singer, composer, and arranger? Then “Mixed Bag” is just the thing for you. A fitting album title for this diverse recording by the Pete McGuiness Jazz Orchestra, “Mixed Bag” indulges big band fans from the first to the last note, from the beautifully arranged jazz standards to the original compositions. McGuiness, who also played trombone (a neurological illness forced him to stop), and his orchestra play through various styles and moods with elegance and refinement, but also with wonderful swing. And as a singer with a rich, melodious voice, the bandleader also scores points. A fantastic album.

-Christoph Giese for Virgin Jazz Face (Germany)