Fri 4/19 @ 8PM
Twenty-five years ago, northeast Ohio jazz saxophone player/composer/arranger/educator Bobby Selvaggio released his debut album as a bandleader.
As he recalls in a recent Facebook post, “After living in New York City and then moving back home to Northeast Ohio, one of the first things as a musician I wanted to do was make a record. I had been composing music and seeing what so many of my contemporaries were doing that I made that a priority.”
He scraped together the money and assembled a group of musician friends to go into the studio and then bought ab disc burner and made the CDs and packaging himself.
Things have changed for him a lot since then. He’s an established powerhouse in the regional jazz scene. He directs the jazz studies program at Kent State University where he earned his own bachelor’s degree in music performance before moving on to New York City to study and perform for a number of years. He’s always got a project going on, having spearheaded various groups from small ensembles to big bands, most of them featuring his own compositions. collaboration with any number of other great local players from two to a dozen. In a scene that has a strong cadre of active veterans as well as a plethora of rising young stars, Selvaggio at 54 falls in the middle, with musical relationships that reach both ways.
And this week, he’s released his 12th album as a bandleader, titled Stories, Dreams, Inspirations: for My Boy on Hidden Cinema Records. It’s dedicated to his son Julian, who happens to be 25: born about the time Selvaggio was working on his first release. So on it he’s looking back to both his years as a recording artist and what’s described as “the joy of a fruitful father-son relationship.” The seven original compositions and arrangements are performed by his 11-member jazz chamber ensemble with contributions from more than a half dozen additional top local jazz musicians. Bryan Kennard, director of the BOP STOP, served as producer.
“The process has become much more coordinated and defined and the names of the musicians have changed through the years, but I am still just as excited as I was 25 years ago,” said Selvaggop in his post. “To hear your music on a recording after putting all that time in practicing and composing and producing and organizing, it’s just a special feeling. It is a true dedication of life to the music to get to the point of recording that music and releasing it and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
You can celebrate the release with Selvaggio and friends at BLU Jazz+ Akron this Friday. Go here for tickets. To order the album go to hiddencinemarecords.com/releases/stories-dreams-inspirations-for-my-boy-bobby-selvaggio-upcoming-album.
Akron, OH 44308