Artistic Director: Joe Muccioli
Joe Muccioli is an internationally known conductor, orchestrator, musicologist and producer. Muccioli is co-founder and artistic director of the Jazz Arts Project, Inc. and its flagship ensemble the Red Bank Jazz Orchestra, an all star line up of the finest jazz musicians in the NY/NJ metropolitan area. He was also principal conductor of Orchestra Atlanta, and for 12 years, had been conductor and music director for Actor/Entertainer Joe Piscopo, with performances in Atlantic City as well as touring the US and Abroad. Muccioli has presented many heralded performances bridging the gulf between European influenced concert music, symphonic presentations and classic jazz rooted in the American tradition. He has conducted major symphonies and jazz orchestras throughout the world, including the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, the BBC Big Band, the Wuppertal Symphony (Germany), the London Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and t
the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the UK; and has been featured on TV and radio broadcasts including NPR, the BBC in the UK, SVT in Sweden and all over northern Europe, and the WDR in Germany.
He is perhaps best known for his thorough and accurate reconstructions of major works from the classic jazz repertoire, including the entire series of Gil Evans/Miles Davis collaborations, Miles Ahead, Porgy & Bess, Sketches of Spain, and Birth of the Cool, all of which have been praised and performed throughout the world. It was this effort that first allowed these masterworks from the jazz repertoire to be performed for the first time in over 40 years since the initial recordings.
Muccioli’s work is evident in every aspect of the music industry from live concert performances to recordings, television, movies and Broadway shows, including various publications, CD’s and DVD’s available Internationally. He supervised the music preparation for the Miles Davis performance at one of his last appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland (available on Qwest Records), and was a consultant on the 1997 CD box set issued by Sony Music Miles Davis and Gil Evans The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings. Heprepared, edited and engraved the score to the 1997 Pulitzer Prize winning composition Blood on the Fields composed by Wynton Marsalis.
His work also includes concerts, recordings and other projects with such artists and composers as, Miles Davis, Paquito D’Rivera, Jon Faddis, Randy Brecker, Marvin Stamm, Barry Harris, Quincy Jones, Ann Hampton Callaway, Gerry Mulligan, Buck Clayton, Lew Soloff, Wynton Marsalis, and Clark Terry.
Quotes
“…this performance of “Sketches” [with trumpet soloist Randy Brecker, and conductor Joe Muccioli] may go down as one of the finest jazz performances the Lehigh Valley has ever had the good fortune to hear.”
– Tim Blangger, The Morning Call, Bethlehem. Pa.
“New Yorker Joe Muccioli was making his debut with the BBC Big Band. The conductor and Miles Davis historian made an eloquent host, as well as being a precise baton-wielder and sympathetic custodian of the trumpeter’s music. Muccioli wove a web of connections around the first half’s Ellington warm-ups. Harlem pictured an earlier New York scene, Concerto For Cootie illustrated how a piece can be specifically tailored for its intended trumpeter and Duke’s arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue used Paul Whiteman as a go-between. To complete the spectrum, there were also several pieces taken from the Birth Of The Cool sessions, using a nonet line-up. The second half was dedicated to a loving reproduction of 1958′s Porgy & Bess, in its entirety. Conventional jazz ranks were augmented by a row of French horns, the Gershwin re-arrangements reproduced with glistening precision. The pinnacle was reached during the mid-point Prayer, a majestic building of blues passion, and one of those almost mystical instances of supreme musical convergence.”
- Martin Longley The Birmingham Post (England)
“Joe Muccioli’s reconstruction reveals facets of the adaption (of Porgy & Bess) that aren’t entirely clear on the legendary Columbia recording.” - Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio
“Editor Joe Muccioli has been able to produce the Gil Evans Collection (Hal Leonard) with a maximum of authenticity.”
– Brian Priestly, Jazzwise Magazine, London
“Guest Conductor Joe Muccioli with the Bohuslän Big Band, not only successfully presented Evans moving style, but in an impeccable way.” – Lennart Blomberg, Göteborgs-Posten (Sweden)
“In a concert in Birmingham’s Symphony Hall … (conductor) Joe Muccioli, took a mesmerized audience through the Miles Davis classic album “Sketches of Spain”. It was a true honor for JazzMouse to be involved with this production for BBC Radio 2.”
– JazzMouse.co.uk
“Randy Brecker in front of the Burlington Discover Jazz Orchestra, capably conducted by Joe Muccioli…was the highlight of the evening. Muccioli provided just the right blend of music history and solo acknowledgment as the musicians worked through selections of “Porgy & Bess” as well as a complete reading of “Sketches of Spain.”
– Paul Kaza, Burlington Free Press, Burlington Vt.
Mr. Muccioli’s publication “The Gil Evans Collection – 15 study scores from Gil’s Manuscripts” is available in music stores or from the Hal Leonard Publishing Company.
A New DVD is now available of Joe Muccioli conducting the Bohulsan Big Band with soloist Lew Soloff, performing George Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess as Arranged by Gil Evans, on the Spice of Life label distributed in Japan. www.spiceoflife.co.jp
Excerpts from Porgy & Bess — Bohuslan Big Band with Trumpet Soloist Lew Soloff,
Joe Muccioli conducting
Overture from Sinatra Birthday Bash
with Red Bank Jazz Orchestra
Joe Muccioli conducting
Joe Muccioli conducts a rehearsal for a concert with the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall in Birmingham, England.