The Piedmont Triad Jazz Orchestra (PTJO) will be showcased at the 9th Annual John Coltrane International Jazz and Blues Festival on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019. They will be joined by vocalist Michelle Coltrane and special guest, trumpeter Jason Palmer. Based in Greensboro, NC, PTJO is a hard swinging group of professional musicians dedicated to upholding the tradition of the finest big band composers and arrangers including Duke Ellington, Count Basie Dizzy Gillespie and others. PTJO members do their own arrangements of traditional works and write a lot of new material for the 16-piece orchestra. Led by artistic director Chad Edsby, who is a saxophonist and composer, the group made its performance debut in 2014. Saxophonist Wally West is the administrative director. Will Campbell, Robert Faub, and Drew Hayes make up the woodwinds section. Trumpeters are Brandon Lee, Christian McIvor, James Armstrong and Michael Hackett. Evan Ringel, David Vance, Charlie Sothcott and Rusty McKinney are the group’s trombonists. PTJO’s rhythm section includes pianist and vocalist Ariel Pocock, Will Goble on bass and Daniel Faust on drums. PTJO is a cross-generational ensemble, comprised of some of North Carolina’s finest and most respected jazz educators, music professionals, and up-and-coming young artists. Its musicians are alums of the big bands of Wynton Marsalis, Harry Connick, Jr., Toshiko Akiyoshi, Christian McBride, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, plus many more, and as arrangers/composers, its members have created well over 100 works for big band.
PTJO
