Pacific Jazz Orchestra
(Chris Walden, artistic director)
BIO
The Pacific Jazz Orchestra is Los Angeles’ new resident 40-piece ensemble for jazz and beyond, presenting an annual concert season with different guest artists, spread out over a select few venues in LA. The program reaches far beyond the boundaries of jazz, as it features music of a diverse range of styles, genres, and backgrounds.
The PJO is the only orchestra of its kind in the United States, and with its talent pool of musicians, Los Angeles is the only city where an ensemble like this can be put together, representing jazz, the uniquely American art form. In it’s inaugural season, the PJO presented concerts with guest artists Rufus Wainwright, TAKE 6, Katharine McPhee, David Foster, Ledisi, Ben Wendel, Aaron Tveit, and Billy Valentine.
The artistic director and conductor of the orchestra is 7-time Grammy-nominated composer/arranger CHRIS WALDEN, who has worked for artists like Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, Paul McCartney, Diana Krall, Aretha Franklin, Rihanna, Seal, Barbra Streisand, John Legend, Herb Alpert, and many more. He has been the lead arranger at the Oscars, the Kennedy Center Honors, and has conducted the LA Phil, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Metropole Orkest, Boston Pops, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, WDR Big Band Cologne and many more.
