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:

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:

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