Grooveyard

John La Barbera's well-framed charts tantalize the ears and quicken the heart...
All About Jazz

With his career at the highest levels of the music industry spanning a half-century, Grammy® nominated composer/arranger John La Barbera doesn't have much left to prove, so gathering a band of equals in New York City and spending some time recording his latest & best hard-swinging arrangements makes good sense! Along with his equally storied brothers, saxophonist Pat and drummer Joe, La Barbera fills Grooveyard with jazz royalty, including Steve Wilson, Renee Rosnes, Clay Jenkins, and the legendary bassist, Rufus Reid, for a set of four arranged tunes from Brubeck, Curtis Fuller, Elvin Jones, and the title track from pianist Carl Perkins, and six of his own original compositions. Thanks to his early career in helping to define the sounds of the Buddy Rich Band, Woody Herman, Bill Watrous and so many others, La Barbera's works have become jazz big band standards, his luminous orchestrations, contrapuntal writing, and rhythmic and textural variety combining to create unforgettable musical moments.

Production Info:

Produced by John P. La Barbera
Recorded by Chris Allen with Assistant Engineer Steven Sacco
at Sear Sound, New York City
Percussion Recording & ProTools Edits by Adam Copelin
at TNT Studios, Louisville, KY
March 22-23, 2023 & April 15, 2023 (percussion)
Mixed & mastered by Chris Allen
at The Mud Room, NYC
Band photos by Charles Levin
Cover design by Edward La Barbera
Cover Art Painting 'Groove Yard' by Marie La Barbera
Cover design & layout by John Bishop

John La Barbera arrangements are available from:
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/search/genres/jazz/700077?Ntt=john+la+barbera

Reviews of Grooveyard

Jazz Weekly (George W Harris)
Best known for his work with the big bands of Buddy Rich and Buddy DeFranco, John LaBarbera forms a big band that includes brothers Joe/dr and Pat/ts-ss along with all star guests including Steve Wilson/as-fl, Clay Jenkins/tp, Ryan Keberle/tb, Rufus Reid/b and Renee Rosnes/p-key for a hard hitting mix of originals and modern jazz covers. There's ...

All About Jazz (Nicholas F. Mondello)
4-STARS The geometry, if you will, of a terrific big band recording is such that the three major elements—the players, the arrangements, and the performance—balance in every regard. Grooveyard from the John La Barbera Big Band is such an offering. The album features ten masterfully selected, arranged, and performed selections, each containing ...

KUVO (Denver) (Arturo Gomez)
John was born into a musical family in upstate New York, his father and brothers are musicians. John began playing trumpet for the Buddy Rich and Woody Herman big bands where it soon became obvious that he had a knack for composing and arranging. Over the decades La Barbera has played with the finest jazz artists as well as symphony orchestras. In ...

WTJU (Russell Perry)
The LaBarbera brothers are a distinguished trio. Saxophonist Pat (Elvin Jones, Buddy Rich) is a mentor to a generation of Canadian saxophonists. Drummer Joe recorded with Bill Evans, Tony Bennett and Kenny Wheeler as well as Charlottesville's Stephanie Nakasian. John LaBarbera, trumpeter and arranger wrote for Buddy Rich for years and is the lea ...

All About Jazz (Jack Bowers)
4 1/2 STARS Composer/arranger John La Barbera has been at the top of his game for more than half a century, and Grooveyard is simply another example of his undiminished artistry. Besides arranging everything—superbly, as always—La Barbera wrote six of the session's ten charming songs, escorting other treasures by Carl Perkins, Dave Brubeck, Cu ...

Jazz Wax (Marc Myers)
Jazz has long been blessed by a sizable number of sibling musicians. Most notably, there are the Joneses (Hank, Elvin and Thad), the Montgomerys (Wes, Buddy and Monk), the Mangiones (Chuck and Gap), the Heaths (Jimmy, Percy and Albert "Tootie" Heath), the Turrentines (Stanley and Tommy), the Adderleys (Cannonball and Nat), the Youngs (Lester and Le ...

Jazz'N'More (Switzerland) (Michael van Gee)
5-STARS The composer, arranger and leader of his Big Band John La Barbera has a "Grooveyard" rousing big band album released which gets your feet wet and is one of the best that's been published in recent years. His three previous albums, the Grammy-nominated "On the Wild Side" (2002), "Fantazm" (2005) and "Caravan" (2013), all on the Jazz Compass ...

Take Effect (Tom Haugen)
The conductor and arranger John La Barbera steers this New York City Big Band into hard-swinging territory, where the 4 arranged tunes and 6 originals are fleshed out with plenty of brass, winds and a stunning rhythm section. The title track opens the listen with plenty of energy from the bright brass, before calmer bouts of grooves and Brandon ...