Saxophonist/Composer John Wojciechowski's
"Focus"
Due for September 18 Release
by Origin Records
Quartet Date with Ryan Cohan, Dennis Carroll, & Dana Hall
Is Wojciechowski's Second as a Leader &
First for Origin
CD Release Shows in Chicago:
9/26 Hyde Park Jazz Festival
10/28 St. Charles North High School
10/30-31 Green Mill
August 31, 2015
 Tenor, alto, and soprano saxophonist John Wojciechowski
has been a mainstay of Chicago's world-class jazz scene since his
arrival from Detroit in 2002, forging close alliances with first-call
musicians such as pianist Ryan Cohan, bassist Dennis Carroll, and drummer Dana Hall. Those players happen to be the members of his tightly-knit working quartet, who appear on his outstanding new CD Focus. Origin Records will release the disc,Wojciechowski's first for the label, on September 18.
Boasting seven strong original compositions, each one reflecting a different aspect of the saxophonist's style and personality, Focus
is one of those supremely enjoyable albums that treats the mainstream
not as a comfort zone but a central place from which to push stylistic
boundaries and assert original ideas.
Repertoire ranges from the earthy intensity of "Summon the Elders,"
a spell-casting modal piece reminiscent of John Coltrane and Pharoah
Sanders, to the bottom-up inventions of the title cut to the dancing 3/4
patterns of "Twirl," on which Wojciechowski (woy-cha-KOW-ski) shows off his lyrical tenor saxophone sound.
"After the tenor became my 'voice,'" he told CD annotator
Neil Tesser, "I think I started to run away from the alto [his first
instrument]. So I really wanted to get back to it on this recording."
His alto work is featured on the two standards, Thelonious Monk's "Evidence" and Dave Brubeck's "In Your Own Sweet Way": "I like to play alto on those songs; I've been playing them forever."
In the studio during the recording of "Focus": Dennis Carroll, Dana Hall,
The two covers on Focus reveal the leader's compositional gift as well. He remakes "Evidence"
with the clave-informed Latin arrangement and reharmonizing touches he
showed off at the 1996 Thelonious Monk Competition (he placed third
behind Jon Gordon and Jimmy Greene). And showing off his love of Sonny
Rollins and Joe Henderson, he treats "In Your Own Sweet Way" to a coiled, melodically expansive alto trio reading.
"Divided Man," whose two separate sections
reflect Wojciechowski's dual existence as a music teacher (at St.
Charles North High School, in the historic river city of St. Charles,
Illinois) and urban jazz musician, displays the deep-seated unity of
this band.
"Elegy," a beautiful piece written for his
father, who died two years ago, captures both the gentleness of the man
and the hard times he underwent dealing with illness. "I don't usually
do programmatic pieces," says Wojciechowski, "but this was really a
composition that wrote itself. It's based in my reflection that life is
short and I still had a lot to say as an artist. And it brought up a lot
of memories about my father."
 John Wojciechowski,
41, was born in Mount Clemens, Michigan, 24 miles northwest of Detroit.
His father was a sheet metal worker by day and a jazz organist by night
in the manner of such B-3 favorites as Don Patterson, Jimmy McGriff,
and Richard "Groove" Holmes.
Young John started playing music at age 8, and, recognizing
his son's aptitude, his father asked him what instrument he wanted to
play. "I chose the saxophone," he says, "because I was drawn to its
sound" -- particularly that of alto great Sonny Stitt, who made such a stellar contribution to countless organ groups of that era.
The elder Wojciechowski went to extra lengths to find his son a good teacher and came up with a winner in Gerry Gravelle.
"He knew all the vocabulary," says Wojciechowski, who by the time he
was in middle school was playing alto saxophone, plus clarinet and
flute, and was conversant with the Great American Songbook.
He earned his music education degree (at Western Michigan
University) at the urging of his jazz elders, and after a brief stint in
New York moved back to Detroit, where he took up teaching, performed
locally, and worked on his tenor saxophone playing.
"Wojo," as he is known, made the move to Chicago in 2002 and before long found himself in such impressive settings as the Chicago Jazz Orchestra. In 2004 he began teaching at St. Charles, and in 2009 he made his recording debut with Lexicon,
featuring Dana Hall and Dennis Carroll as well as guitarist Dave Miller
and pianist Ron Perrillo. Wojciechowski has also performed in
pianist/arranger Laurence Hobgood's first post-Kurt Elling band and with such notable young artists as pianist Jacob Sacks, bassist Jeff Campbell, and trombonist Joel Adams.
Whether leading his own group or furthering his already distinguished career as a sideman, John Wojciechowski
brings to bear a consummate understanding of where past meets present,
where Detroit meets Chicago, where learning meets teaching, and where
dedication meets execution.
Web Site: jwojojazz.com
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Friday, October 23, 2015
USA: John Wojciechowski-Focus(Origin 2015)
