Author: Jon Lundbom

Best Music School for Graduating Contemporary Jazz Greats
“DePaul’s music department has long been one of the strongest in the Chicago area, and in recent years a remarkable number of musicians who’ve spent time in its jazz program have ascended to the national stage. Not everyone on this list graduated, but there’s no disputing the talent and vision of the players who’ve been touched by DePaul’s faculty: saxophonists Jon Irabagon, Matana Roberts, Rudresh Mahanthappa, and Nate Lepine, vibist Jason Adasiewicz, trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, trombonist Nick Broste, guitarist Jon Lundbom, and cellist Tomeka Reid, to say nothing of experimental types such as Jim O’Rourke and Greg Davis.”

Read the full article

“Certainly not straight-ahead jazz, decidedly not fusion, and not really free-jazz either, guitarist/composer Jon Lundbom and his [sic] Big Five Chord have taken a decidedly idiosyncratic path that simultaneously eschews and embraces all of these sub-genres, while largely rejecting their collective stylistic baggage. This judiciously iconoclastic individualism is what one can expect from Lundbom… [Lundbom] is a wildly unpredictable and aggressive soloist. Occasionally there’s a soupçon of Scofield’s bluesy phrasing, something especially evident on ‘The Bad! Thing.’ The frantic rapid fire stutters and manic strumming on ‘Talent for Surrender’ brings edgier players such as James Blood Ulmer and Sonny Sharrock to mind. On ‘The Other Third One,’ Lundbom waxes both brainy and raucous… ‘No New Tunes’ virtually crackles with excitement and, well, newness.”

Read the full article