Albums and live shows
All of Metropolitan Jazz Octet’s recording projects are conceived and organized around a concept, and each is available for booking as a concert presentation.
THE BOWIE PROJECT
MJO partnered with acclaimed singer Paul Marinaro to celebrate David Bowie's song legacy. Together, they’ve created a most revealing tribute. With a career-spanning selection of songs such as Space Oddity, Changes and Let’s Dance along with early, deeper cuts including Conversation Piece and Letter to Hermione, The Bowie Project presents universal themes that resonate throughout the ages: love, loss, disillusionment, division and trying to find hope in a changing and unfamiliar landscape.
“The Bowie Project features Marinaro’s exquisite voice and emotional interpretations within sumptuous arrangements that lift Bowie’s music out of its historical context and offer new ways to understand its relevance ...Marinaro’s dedication to dignified, timely art and Gailloreto’s impeccable leadership, this land breaking effort could very well be one of the post-pandemic’s finer achievements.”
Chicago Jazz Magazine
IT’S TOO HOT FOR WORDS: Celebrating Billie Holiday
The truest measure of artistic respect doesn’t lie in repeating previous innovations. It comes from building upon and extending those concepts, as the MJO has done here in this tribute to Billie Holiday with the renowned vocalist Dee Alexander – not only in the use of updated harmonies and more sophisticated rhythms, but also in the addition of strings on several tracks, expanding the range of colors and textures at the arrangers’ disposal.
“Dee Alexander is not one to throw a pity party. Here, as is her wont, she both honors her source material and reimagines it, aided by some brilliant arrangements as well as deft accompaniment (and first-rate solos) from the Metropolitan Jazz Octet. Although she doesn’t shy away from Holiday’s dark side, much of what she and the MJO offer is, in a word, fun, which isn’t always an adjective associated with Lady Day.”
Jazz Times
THE ROAD TO YOUR PLACE
The debut recording of the new Metropolitan Jazz Octet brims with original compositions from its two principal arrangers, trumpeter Doug Scharf, and guest pianist Andy Cohen. Some were conceived for smaller bands, yet they nonetheless bloom in the hothouse atmosphere of the octet. An octet is exactly half the size of the jazz orchestra, which makes it neither a big nor small band. It affords all sorts of instrumental combinations that the musicians execute with practiced perfection.