Ready, Willing And Able

Adonis Rose and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra Swing Back onto the Scene.

- Geraldine Wyckoff

“We’re the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra; we live in New Orleans,” declares drummer Adonis Rose, who in 2016 took over the position of artistic director of the ensemble affectionately called NOJO. “The thing that sets us apart from any other orchestra or band are the individuals who are in the orchestra. We make up a huge part of the music scene in New Orleans. We have some of the greatest musicians in the world playing in our orchestra and we have some of the best professors and just people who contribute to the culture. We are a New Orleans-based band solely dedicated to promoting New Orleans music and culture. There’s no other jazz orchestra that I know of in the world that is committed to doing that.”

Rose is obviously passionate about the mission of the 18-piece NOJO and its uniqueness that can be attributed to its hometown’s jazz history and culture. “What makes New Orleans different from Dallas are the people,” he offers in comparison. “We do the music of other people all the time but we have a specific thing that we put on the music that nobody else does.”

It’s pretty much a given that no other orchestra, big band or combo could pull off giving composer Allen Toussaint’s “Southern Nights” a second line beat as NOJO did on its latest, and the first album since being reactivated, Songs—The Music of Allen Toussaint. Selecting New Orleans material like Toussaint’s beautiful “With You in Mind,” which cleverly teams vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater and Phillip Manuel in a duet, also makes NOJO distinct from other jazz orchestras around the country.