CHICAGO JAZZ ORCHESTRA

The Chicago Jazz Orchestra is Chicago’s oldest continuously operating professional jazz orchestra. Founded in 1978 by Jeff Lindberg and the late Steve Jensen, the Jazz Members Big Band became the Chicago Jazz Orchestra Association in 1999. In the spring semester of 1978, the University of Illinois Jazz Band hit a performance level that the group had not achieved in years. The band was filled with musicians who had been attracted to the University’s jazz program because of the legendary band of the late 60s and early 70s. The spirit of the ’78 band was so positive that a number of the musicians, including trumpeter Steve Jensen and trombonist Jeff Lindberg, wanted to keep it going after the school year concluded, albeit in Chicago. Jensen moved to the North Side of Chicago to establish a career as a free-lance trumpet player; Lindberg moved to the southern suburb of Flossmoor to take a read more...