Active off and on for more than a decade, TromBari is a jazz ensemble with deep local ties. But until now, they hadn’t played Jazz UpFront. The group formed in approximately 2010 or 2011, releasing their debut album, The Devil’s Hopyard, in 2012 and playing off-and-on ever since.
“He plays the ‘trom’ and I play the bari,” said Glenn Wilson of Jim Pugh, a trombone and composition professor in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s storied jazz program. For almost 25 years, Pugh has also gigged with Steely Dan, which is currently on tour as the opener for The Eagles’ Long Goodbye Tour.
“We looked it up; nobody had that name,” Wilson said. “There is an attorney in Boston with the name Robert Trombari. So, I hope he doesn’t sue us, but I think we’re good in Illinois.”
Wilson retired a few years ago as director of jazz at Illinois Wesleyan University and toured with household names like Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Bruce Hornsby and Frank Sinatra, Jr. Now, he spends a lot of time with his new granddaughter while working on projects like Trombari and Further Jazz.
“We’re pretty old,” Wilson said, “and we like to play music that we enjoy. This is some great music we get to recreate and make new every night.”
Their three-hour block at Jazz UpFront includes creative arrangements of jazz standards, plus music from other trombone and baritone saxophone duos dating back to the 1940s. Among those are repertoire from the Gerry Mulligan book, the Pepper-Knepper Quintet and Curtis Fuller’s Bone & Bari.
While bari sax and trombone are traditional jazz instruments, they’re rarely featured. Pugh and Wilson both enjoy improvising and exploring their instruments’ ranges—a chance rarely offered to them in conventional scores for band and jazz combos.
“In big bands, usually there will be tenor (sax) solos and trumpet solos—occasionally altos, and then rhythm section,” Pugh said. “That might be why some of those groups that formed earlier did that, too. They have a voice and have something they want to say. Sometimes, you have to go out on your own.”
U of I doctoral students and graduates Emma Taylor (bass), Max Osawa (drums) and Leon Lewis-Nicol (piano) round out the quintet—though Pugh and Wilson are quick to point out that the original formula didn’t include keys, a nod to Lewis-Nicol’s unparalleled talent.
“It’s just an honor being in their presence and playing this music, bringing two different eras together,” he said. The Sierra Leonean pianist came to the United States to study jazz at Millikin University before starting his doctorate at U of I.
“They have a differently interpretation, which is good,” Lewis-Nicol said. “They’ve got the history behind it, and we’ve got the youthful exuberance. It’s an honor playing with them and learning about this music on the bandstand.”
The TromBari quintet plays Friday, 8-11 p.m. at Jazz UpFront, 107 W. Front St., Bloomington. Tickets are $8-$10, available online at jazzupfront.com and at the door. Patrons must be 21 or older to enter.
