Jim Knapp Orchestra

It's Not Business, It's Personal

Origin 82834

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Jim Knapp's music is full of intensity, emotion and creative textures. His music should be more known. It's among the best of orchestral jazz...
MARIA SCHNEIDER

The career and music of Seattle-based composer/arranger and trumpeter James Knapp is a known and respected quantity in the inner circles of jazz music, inhabited by its musicians, bandleaders, journalists and educators. Those fortunate enough to gain awareness of the intrinsic beauty of his music place the work of his Composers and Improvisers Orchestra of the '70s-'80s and his more recent assemblage, the 13-piece Jim Knapp Orchestra, in the upper echelon of modern jazz composition. For this 2009 session, we find the band focused and in top form, as it often was during a very active period in the early 2000s. Made up of a highly creative collection of colleagues from the Cornish College of the Arts, former students, and Seattle professionals, the music was approached with seriousness, dedication and honor, with the fun and fulfillment that comes with that level of involvement very evident.


Track Listing:

1. Miami Vince 5:04
2. Afterthought 2:46
3. The Presence of Absence 8:57
4. Kumasi 8:42
5. Gray Skies 7:10
6. Forward Motion 5:49
7. Modal Horizon 6:34
8. Nerds of Steel 6:31

Composed, arranged & conducted by Jim Knapp

Performers:

JIM KNAPP ORCHESTRA:
Paul Taub - flutes
Mark Taylor - alto & soprano sax
Steve Treseler - alto & tenor sax
Stuart MacDonald - tenor sax
Jim Dejoie - bari sax, clarinets, flute
Brad Allison - trumpet, flugelhorn
Vern Sielert - trumpet, flugelhorn
Jay Thomas - trumpet, flugelhorn
Tom Varner - french horn
Jeff Hay - trombone
Chris Stover - bass trombone
John Hansen - piano
Jon Hamar - bass
Matt Jorgensen - drums

Production Info:

Produced by Jim Knapp
Recorded & mixed by Rick Parashar at
London Bridge Studio, Seattle, WA
Recorded February 20-22, 2009
Mastered by Dan Dean at
Dan Dean Productions, Mercer Island, WA
Cover design & layout by John Bishop


Reviews of It's Not Business, It's Personal

Midwest Review (Chris Spector)
A 2009 date from one of the great modern jazz insiders that can wrap a big band around his little finger, no less than Maria Schneider confirms all this in doing her part to help make his work get wider renown. This is a highly right on stop to make for jazz orchestra that almost the last word on the subject. Great playing and writing throughout. ...

Take Effect Reviews (Tom Haugen)
The Seattle composer, arranger and trumpet extraordinaire Jim Knapp knew his way around a diverse jazz tune you won't soon forget, and here along with a large handful of esteemed musicians he brings a big band effort that's quite distinct and exciting. "Miami Vince" starts the listen with no lack of energy, as Jon Hamar's frisky brass welcomes ...

JazzTimes (Mark Stryker)
There are two kinds of jazz listeners. Those who recognize Jim Knapp as a profound large-ensemble composer and arranger of uncommon imagination, depth, and expression—and those who have yet to hear his music. Knapp, who died November 13 at age 82, was a revered bandleader, composer, arranger, trumpeter, and teacher in the Pacific Northwest. He ...

All About Jazz (Jack Bowers)
4 1/2-STARS The Jim Knapp Orchestra's CD It's Not Business, It's Personal, recorded in February 2009, was set to be released on November 19, 2021—six days after Knapp died at age eighty-two in Kirkland, Washington. Apart from his role as bandleader, Knapp was a trumpeter, composer, arranger and longtime faculty member at Cornish College of the A ...

Earshot Jazz (STEVE GRIGGS)
IN MEMORIUM - 1939-2021 James "Jim" Donald Knapp Jr. died at Cambridge Senior Care in Kirkland, Washington on November 13, 2021. He was born in Chicago on July 28, 1939 and given the same name as his father. His mother Mildred was from a musical family. "For a kid, you're not often used to seeing adults being very happy. You know, there's usu ...

Jazz Weekly (George W Harris)
Modern big band orchestral charts inspired by Gil Evans are delivered on this album by composer/arranger and conductor Jim Knapp and his 13 member ensemble. The textures created the horns sections are quite impressive, floating around John Hansen's piano on "Modal Horizon" with the flutes creating cirrus clouds of sound on "Miami Vince" and framing ...

Seattle Times (Paul de Barros)
He was a band leader, composer, trumpet player and longtime faculty member at Cornish College of the Arts, but Jim Knapp, who died Nov. 13, will be remembered as the primary architect of Seattle's modern jazz scene. He was 82 and living in a senior care facility in Kirkland, where he died of congestive heart failure and complications from diabetes, ...



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