Big Bari Band
The Big Bari Band is big fun ! Where else do you get two bari saxes in one band?
For the irrepressibly creative Chicago saxophonist Juli Wood, the only thing better than one big, rumbling baritone saxophone is, well, two of them.
The front line features Wood and Chicago saxophonist Rajiv Halim on the two low horns. If you’ve ever heard either one of these musicians, you know that the two together playing baritone suggests considerable sound and energy.
“I’ve always been a fan of Rajiv Halim’s playing on alto and tenor — he’s fantastic,” says Wood. “He’s just so soulful and very studied, though. He’s got so much harmonic knowledge, and his technique on saxophone is great.
“Then I heard he bought a bari.”
That’s all Wood needed to hear to begin conceiving the new band. For periodically she has picked up her baritone and has found audiences apparently eager to hear more.“Whenever I played at Room 43, there were always people who said: When are you going to bring that bari out?” says Wood, speculating they’re familiar with the “Movin’ and Groovin’” quintet recording she made in the 1990s with organist Mel Rhyne. That album, and a later one,”54321 Juli Wood” featured Wood playing baritone on some tracks, and lately she’d come to realize it was time for her to return seriously to the instrument.“The ballads are really mournful and beautiful,” she says.
“The bari can be kind of airy and eerie-sounding if you play it softly, so we really use the (hushed) dynamics for the ballads. The baritone actually has a lot of coloring to it. It certainly can get loud and raucous. Some of these tunes we’re playing really fast, and we’ve really got to move it, as with ” The Cooker ” a George Benson tune. Double baritone repertoire is more rarefied, though Wood said she has drawn inspiration from Sun Ra’s 1950s “Sound of Joy” album, which featured Charles Davis and Pat Patrick on baritones.
The work of prolific baritone player Ronnie Cuber also has been important to her.As for the Big Bari Band repertoire, Wood says she has arranged ballads such as Horace Silver’s “Peace” and McCoy Tyner’s “Search for Peace,” which “sound really beautiful with the two baris.” Thelonious Monk’s “Pannonica,” Silver’s “Enchantment” and the title cut of guitarist Grant Green’s “Matador” also have proved fruitful, says Wood, the latter because “it’s got a great bass jumping line that sounds really good with the bari picking that off.” – Howard Reich Chicago Tribune
The Big Bari Band has been featured twice at the Chicago Jazz Fest and played at Andy’s Jazz Club and the Jazz Showcase.
The Ensemble
Juli Wood
baritone sax
For the past twenty years with four albums as a leader, several studio projects as a side man, and countless worldwide performances, saxophonist, vocalist and composer Juli Wood has established herself as a solid, swinging, lyrical and entertaining performer on Chicago’s music scene. Juli has played many jazz clubs and festivals nationally and internationally; Chicago Jazz Fest, Hyde Park Jazz Fest, Milwaukee’s Summerfest, Chicago’s main jazz clubs – Jazz Showcase, Green Mill, Andy’s and Katerina’s. Skansen Jazz and Blues (Stockholm , Sweden), Pori Jazz Fest (Finland), Bent J’s club (Aarhus, Denmark), Storyville (Helsinki Finland), Arlandia Jazz Fest (Aaland Islands, Finland) and the ” Made in Chicago ” jazz festival in Poznan Poland to name a few.
Juli is mainly known as a tenor saxophonist, but for this band she hauls out the big bad baritone sax !
Rajiv Halim
baritone sax
Rajiv Halim is one of Chicago’s favorite and most talented saxophonists. He is a player, composer and teacher. Rajiv has performed with Jennifer Hudson, Chance the Rapper, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Ernie Watts, Cory Henry, Richard Gibbs, Curtis Lundy, Antonio Hart, Lisa Henry, Von Freeman, Mike Stern, Martha Reeves, Bob Mintzer, 4 Tops, Ernest Dawkins, Maggie Brown, Orbert Davis, Maurice Brown, Corey Wilkes, Marquis Hill and others.
He placed second in the international “ Saxophone Idol “ competition in 2013. He performs regularly in Chicago with his own quintet as well as with After Dark, Ron Hayre’s Game Changers, The Xavier Breaker Coalition and Robert Irving III’s Generations.
Dr. Mike Allemana
guitar
Dr. Mike Allemana is one of Chicago’s top jazz guitarists. He played in Von Freeman’s band at the New Apartment Lounge for many years. He currently is working on a PHD in Ethnomusicology at the University of Chicago. He is busy performing with the George Freeman organ quartet (sometimes featuring drum legend, Bernard Purdy ), After Dark, and his group , the Regulators. Mike has also performed with Charles Earland, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Ron Dewar, Mickey Roker, Jimmy Cobb, Steve Coleman, Bobby Broom, Jeff Parker, Eric Alexander and Julian Priester.
Some of Mike’s career highlights include performances with Dr. Lonnie Smith in 1998 and 1999, a four-year residency at Andy’s Jazz Club with tenor saxophonist Ron Dewar from 1998-2002, a 2005 performance at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center with Von Freeman and drumming legend Mickey Roker, a 2006 performance with Von Freeman and master drummer Jimmy Cobb, and performances with alto saxophonist Steve Coleman. In 2010, Mike toured to Poznan, Poland to perform with fellow Chicago guitarists Bobby Broom and Jeff Parker for the Made in Chicago Festival. The Jazz Institute of Chicago commissioned him in 2011 to arrange Von Freeman’s original compositions for a 10-piece ensemble for the Made in Chicago concert series at Millennium Park which featured special guests Eric Alexander, Julian Priester, and Steve Coleman. He travelled again to Poznan in 2011 to perform an original 4-part suite dedicated to Von Freeman written for jazz octet, commissioned by the Made in Chicago Festival. This piece was revised and expanded for a commission from the Jazz Institute of Chicago in 2018, which Mike entitled Vonology, an exploration of Von Freeman’s musical and historical legacy.
Josua Ramos
bass
Josua Ramos is an in demand bass player in Chicago. He has performed with Dan Nimmer (Wynton Marsalis’ big band pianist), Carl Allen, Conrad Herwig, Byron Stripland, Red Holloway, the Occidental Brothers, Liquid Soul, Ernie Adams,Ken Chaney, Victor Garcia and CALJE, Darwin Noguera , and Tito Carillo.
Samuel Jewell
drums
Samuel Jewell is a great all round Chicago drummer well versed in many styles, playing in jazz, hip hop, gospel, blues and soul bands. He is currently the drummer in Guy King’s blues band. In 2017 he released his recording “ The Journey of Process “ Sam has played with Guy King, Shaun Johnson, Irvin Pierce, Anthony Perkin, Brian Quinlan, Runere Brooks and many more.
Audio Samples
The Cooker
Enchantment
Two Tones
Search For Peace
Videos
Big Bari Band – Two Tones
The Big Bari Band is big fun ! Where else do you get two bari saxes in one band ?
The group features arrangements of jazz classics by McCoy Tyner, Grant Green, Horace Silver, George Benson, Wayne Shorter and Sun Ra. The Big Bari Band has been featured twice at the Chicago Jazz Fest and played at Andy’s Jazz Club and the Jazz Showcase.
Big Bari Band – The Cooker
The Big Bari Band is big fun ! Where else do you get two bari saxes in one band ?
The group features arrangements of jazz classics by McCoy Tyner, Grant Green, Horace Silver, George Benson, Wayne Shorter and Sun Ra. The Big Bari Band has been featured twice at the Chicago Jazz Fest and played at Andy’s Jazz Club and the Jazz Showcase.
Big Bari Band – Enchantment
The Big Bari Band is big fun ! Where else do you get two bari saxes in one band ?
The group features arrangements of jazz classics by McCoy Tyner, Grant Green, Horace Silver, George Benson, Wayne Shorter and Sun Ra. The Big Bari Band has been featured twice at the Chicago Jazz Fest and played at Andy’s Jazz Club and the Jazz Showcase.