Changes all the time :-)
Ayn Inserto, Director/Composer
SAXES/WOODWINDS:
Allan Chase, Rick Stone, Kelly Roberge, Alec Spiegelman, Brian Landrus
TRUMPETS:
Jeff Claassen, John Replogle, Will Caviness, Matt Small
TROMBONES:
Dave Hickok, Garo Saraydarian, Chris Gagne, Gabe Langfur
RHYTHM SECTION:
Mark Cocheo, Carmen Staaf, Kendall Eddy, Austin McMahon
OTHER MUSICIANS WHO PLAY REGULARLY WITH THE AIJO:
Bill Jones, tenor sax; Mike Gamble, guitar; Josh Economy, trumpet; Joe Moffett, trumpet; Richie Barshay, drums; Hans Spencer, bari sax; Pete Kenagy, trumpet; Nicole Rampersaud, trumpet, Sean Berry, tenor sax, Jeremy Udden, saxophone; Jennifer Wharton, bass trombone.
Interview with Hot House Magazine, February 2007
Pianist/composer Ayn Inserto followed Bob Brookmeyer's advice in 2001 when he told her, "You need to put together a big band." Ayn and her big band are on the schedule at Dizzy's on Feb. 19. "I'm just conducting," she says, "I'm not playing unless my piano player forgets to show up or something. The show must go on." Ayn, a winner of ASCAP's Young Jazz Composer Award in 2006, studied with Brookmeyer, and counts Maria Schneider, Gil Evans and Jim McNeely among her influences. Though she's written for other configurations, "I really like the big band sound; it's become my main signature thing," Ayn says. However, "I have to listen to some pop music once in a while to make sure I'm still with it. I stick to mainly '80s stuff. Right now I'm mostly concentrating on the Dizzy's gig. I hope I don't forget to bring the music."
All About Jazz Review
"Ayn Inserto is a...very talented composer who has just made a dramatic entrance into the world of big band jazz, offering a new voice on this debut album. Her music is new and unconventional, striking a different chord than what one usually expects from a big band project...[her] sophisticated charts and clever arrangements on Clairvoyance serve to harness that energy to create a unique big band sound without the heavy orchestration." - Edward Blanco, allaboutjazz.com , Review of Clairvoyance. Click here for full review.
Myspace Editor Pimp MySpace
The Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra (AIJO) is a full big band based in Boston that has recently performed with Bob Brookmeyer, George Garzone, Joe Lovano and Frank Tiberi at venues such as the Berklee Performance Center, The Zeitgeist Gallery and the Western Front Club. The ensemble performs originals and arrangements of Ayn Inserto, who is highly influenced by Bob Brookmeyer, Maria Schneider and Jim McNeely. The jazz orchestra recently finished a recording with Bob Brookmeyer and George Garzone. Ms. Inserto thrives to make her music swing with a modern twist and her orchestra will not fail to produce a thrilling performance.
Biography Ayn Inserto is a groundbreaking composer who is emerging as one of the preeminent voices of her generation. She received her Masters of Music degree in Jazz Composition from the New England Conservatory in May 2001. She is a winner of the 2003 and 2006 ASCAP Young Jazz Composers' Award and has received various honors which include the Concord Pavilion Associates Marian McPartland Award, the Pacific Coast Jazz Festival Most Outstanding small jazz ensemble, and the 1999 Best Original Composition award at the Billy Higgins Jazz Festival. She currently studies jazz composition with Bob Brookmeyer as his protege. Her music has been performed at the Berklee Performance Center, 1999 & 2008 IAJE Convention, California State University of Hayward Jazz Festivals, Reno Jazz Festival, Billy Higgins Jazz Festival, New England Conservatory of Music, McGill University, Montreux Jazz Festival and the Umbria Jazz Festival. Ayn has been commissioned by Foxboro High School, Harvard Jazz Band, CSU East Bay, IAJE/ASCAP, Marin Catholic High School and Fairfield High School, and by George Garzone to arrange his music featuring him as a soloist with jazz orchestra. She currently resides in Boston, is on the faculty at Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, Longy School of Music and teaches private piano in the Massachusetts area.
AllMusic.com Muse CD Review, February 2009
Ayn Inserto's second recording with her jazz orchestra is grand and sophisticated to a degree as to immediately elevate her status alongside acknowledged influences, and well known, experienced chart makers like Maria Schneider, Bob Belden, and Mark Masters. This Boston based big band plays Inserto's original music, tempered to strict tolerances, read and interpreted precisely and joyously. Main soloist George Garzone is also a powerful figure in the way the music is shaped, but it is his distinct post-John Coltrane tone that establishes a high inspirational standard for all members of the band to follow. Inserto directs and conducts her charges through eight original pieces individually dedicated to her teachers and influences, which include Dave Eshelman, Bob Brookmeyer, Frank Foster, Steve Lacy, Michael Brecker, personal friends, family, and bandmembers. This is complex music, clearly well rehearsed, compelling and commanding for any astute listener, and firmly placed in the modern mainstream neo-bop contemporary continuum. Boston saxophonists like Rick Stone, Brian Landrus, Kelly Roberge, Sean Berry, and especially Allan Chase work in tandem with Garzone, while lead trumpeter Jeff Claassen fronts the brass section. A new star to discover is pianist Carmen Staaf, a wonderfully melodic and inventive keyboardist who fills nooks and crannies, and sets the pacing, color palate, and tone for the band nearly as much as Garzone. "Eshel Sketch" kicks off the set with an exuberance indicative of the entire date, a bouncy, happy, childlike piece based on Staaf's dainty, stated figures being cleverly traced by the horns. Stairstep bright lighting flicked repeatedly on and off identifies "A Little Brook," the depth of the composition shaded by a far reaching horizon that mirrors Brookmeyer's modern visage of color balance with little accents of splashed starbursts framed in an easy swing. "Vinifera" pays tribute to Foster — it is a piece commissioned by ASCAP and the now defunct International Association of Jazz Educators — as spiked tips of melody followed by quick counterpoint presents the most intricate construct, far from simple harmonics or dynamics, but lean and mean. Garzone's soprano on "Laced with Love" does not so much assimilate Steve Lacy, but urges the horn section in a mounting, lingering, and slow refrain that he punctuates in characteristic sharp tones, providing a lovely eulogy. Of course Garzone's tenor during "To Michael Brecker," as you would expect, takes into account the free floating no time concept of Coltrane married to Brecker's inexhaustive lyrical mindset. "Snowplace Like Home" (love the title) has Chase and Garzone hopping about on a jumpy repeat theme where their dual soprano saxes push the envelope harmonically, and the closer "Simple" is a basic melody reminiscent of Count Basie, short and sweet, with the exception of a purposefully sour note at the end of the pretty phrase. Inserto is impressive as a writer of modern jazz, her band is more than up to the task, and there's a real feeling of camaraderie cementing the band as a true working mule team. Especially if you are not familiar with her name and sound, keep Ayn Inserto's Muse in serious consideration for a distinguished place in your collection. It is an excellent representation of what's happening in her virile, imaginative mind, and comes highly recommended. - Michael G. Nastos
Jazz Times Clairvoyance CD Review, September 2007
"There’s an energetic creative force on the horizon named Ayn Inserto, and based on this debut album, she’s Maria Schneider on steroids. Boston-based Inserto, an assistant professor at Berklee, arranged all nine tracks and composed six. George Garzone, who is a guest tenorist, wrote the remaining three. The other guest soloist is trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, who happens to be Inserto’s mentor. That connection alone gives credence to the album. What you’ll hear may be confusing. In Inserto’s contemporary mindset, there seems little need for bar lines or, in many instances, tonal centers. Her strength is in creating dense colors and textures, as on “Clairvoyance.” Sticking with a conventional, 17-piece band, she devises huge, avant-garde canvases filled with clusters (she loves minor seconds). Brookmeyer is laid-back, never deviating from his sophisticated tones, creating a fascinating contrast to Inserto’s dissonant backing, particularly on “Shadow Dancing.” Garzone, on the other hand, tends to become as anarchic as the band, as on “Hey, Open Up.” Pianist Kyle Aho takes a very poetic solo on “Early Sunday Morning,” and there is outstanding rhythmic support from bassist Jeremy Allen and drummer Richie Barshay on 'Lazy Saturday Afternoon.'" - Harvey Siders
The Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra's Friend Space (Top 40)
Quand un quatuor classique s'enflamme sur un rythme à 5 temps, porté par un quartet de jazz et des tambours de l'Afrique et des Antilles, notre sale histoire commune liée par les chaînes de l'esclavage s'écrase devant l'évidence que l'humanité respire et gronde dans l'altérité.
Thank you for the accepting of my request! Hope you're doing well and i wish you an awesome continuations for the future and now,with i hope,all the success which you deserve! Take care. Moh.<:)
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Hi.....thank you for adding me...i think you music is fantastic and i will be back for more!!..don't forget to have a listen to my songs sometime....all the best from Ireland...David
Hi Ayn! What's up? Thank you so much for your cd! It's simply amazing... Believe me, it has been a real honour playing with you. Keep in touch. The Italian Chooch.
Dear Ayn how are you? Thank you so much for the gift you sent me , your Cd...another great one !! I miss you and I hope to play soon your music together. Warm regards Massimo
Hello Ayn, Thanks so much for the Add. Your music is very imaginative. We hope you and your friends enjoy our music. We wish you the very best in your career. It's a pleasure having you among our friends! Onward and Upward with Music! Thom & Lorry Gambino New York, New York
I hope you can hit my session @ the Grant and Green on a Monday. Actually if you're leaving on the 5th hopefully you can make the 29th of Dec. I'll be out of town but Jarrett Cherner will be running it. It's a great session and it would be more of an honor if you AND George were to come thru...
I'll be coming back to the Bay on New Year's Day. I'll be in Greece over the Christmas Holiday flying back to the East Coast for NYE. How long will you be in town for?
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