About Tim Armacost

After a life of travel and discovery on three continents, Grammy nominated saxophonist and author Tim Armacost has established himself as one of the most important improvisers on the New York scene today. Armacost was born in Los Angeles, but came of age as a musician in Tokyo, New Delhi and Amsterdam, where he burnished his reputation as an upcoming talent, with a big tenor sound and an impeccable rhythmic sense. He tours regularly around the world both as a sideman and a leader. Armacost has worked with a phenomenal number of jazz greats, including Al Foster, Jimmy Cobb, Kenny Barron, Tom Harrell, Billy Hart, Victor Lewis, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Peter Erskine, Ray Drummond, Roy Hargrove, Don Friedman and Randy Brecker. He has recorded 16 critically acclaimed records as a leader, performed on more than 60 as a sideman, and has composed and arranged for Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Armacost is a widely respected educator, teaching at the Jamey Aebersold and Stanford Summer Jazz Workshops, at Queens College in New York City and as a clinician at Universities throughout the U.S., Japan and Europe. In addition to his own groups, Armacost co-leads the New York Standards Quartet and the Brooklyn Big Band, for which he composes and arranges. He is a member of Emilio Solla’s Grammy nominated group Inestabile de Brooklyn, and is a co-founder of the cooperative groups IN Trio and Armacost/Lepore/Petrosino, all of which are celebrating new recordings. Armacost’s most recent leader date, Time Being, featuring Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts and Bob Hurst received a four star review in Downbeat magazine, and has met with critical acclaim around the world.

Posts by Tim Armacost:

Learning the Vocabulary of Jazz, and Using it Creatively

To keep it interesting for myself, one of the things I did while writing The Jazz Saxophone Book, was to create what I called “Short Asides.” When something I was writing about sparked an idea that deserved a bit of a detour, I’d go ahead and write about it, and the Short Aside format helped [read more…]