| Jazz |
John Vanore’s Easter Island Suite: Where Symphonic Form Meets the Freedom of Jazz
There are mornings in Austin when the weather itself seems undecided, when a Texas winter slips, without warning, from warmth to cold, then back again. One hour, a T-shirt feels barely tolerable; the next, coats are pulled from the closet. It is a peculiar rhythm, familiar to anyone who has lived here long enough, and one that oddly sharpens the senses. It is in such moments, between climates, between expectations, that writing becomes focused, especially when a record begins to spin: John Vanore’s Easter Island Suite.
The music unfolding on the turntable mirrors that unsettled atmosphere. Elegant, expansive, and rigorously intellectual, Easter Island Suite presents itself as a work of symphonic jazz in the fullest sense of the term. What Vanore offers is not merely a large ensemble or an extended jazz composition, but a carefully architected musical statement, one that draws openly from the formal discipline of classical music while embracing the expressive risk of jazz improvisation.
At first glance, the ensemble resembles a big band, yet the comparison only goes so far. Vanore’s approach recalls the lineage of composers such as Gil Evans or, more recently, Maria Schneider, artists who expanded jazz orchestration without sacrificing its emotional immediacy. Like them, Vanore builds from a classical structural foundation, allowing soloists to emerge organically within the framework. At times dissonant, always radiant, these individual voices do not dominate; they converse.
The album is divided into four distinct movements, unfolding over approximately forty minutes. This alone signals a compositional mindset more aligned with the concert hall than the club stage. And yet, these are unmistakably jazz compositions. The tension between form and freedom is precisely what gives the album its power. Easter Island Suite speaks simultaneously to listeners of contemporary jazz, classical music enthusiasts, and those drawn to improvised, exploratory sound.
Although Vanore is a trumpeter by training, he positions himself here first and foremost as a composer. There is no foregrounded virtuosity, no attempt to claim the spotlight. Instead, the work itself takes precedence. Vanore’s trumpet exists on equal footing with the rest of the ensemble, reinforcing the sense that this is a collective endeavor rather than a vehicle for individual display.
With repeated listening, the music begins to reveal a choreographic quality. Each movement contains a multitude of rhythmic shifts, evolving cadences, and internal momentum. One hears echoes of wind, vast landscapes, and motion, music that suggests space as much as sound. It invites the listener not simply to hear, but to imagine.
Vanore’s career lends further weight to this ambition. He began playing trumpet at the age of seven and has since built a multifaceted life in music as a pedagogue, producer, composer, and instrumentalist. His work has brought him into collaboration with EMI, Atlantic Records, PBS, Miramax, and other major institutions, as well as into the heart of New York’s studio world. That period included the production of the gold-certified album On Eagle’s Wings for Michael Crawford, the soundtrack and companion CD Voices for the PBS special The American Promise, and his role as trumpet soloist on the animated film My Dog Tulip.
In 2004, Vanore was commissioned to compose a work commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Bhopal disaster in India. The resulting five-movement piece, recorded as Suite for Bhopal, underscored his belief in music as a medium for remembrance and ethical reflection, an approach that continues to inform his writing.
There is a deep consciousness at work in Easter Island Suite, a sense of purpose that makes the music difficult to categorize precisely because it is so singular. Projects of this scale only succeed when every musician fully understands both the intent and the architecture of the composition, and when each is willing to dissolve individual ego into a unified sonic vision. That cohesion is evident throughout.
For listeners unaccustomed to this kind of artistic undertaking, the invitation remains open. This is not an album designed for casual sampling. None of its movements would make sense in isolation. They must be experienced together, as a whole. A composer, after all, is not unlike a novelist. One would never consider reading a single chapter of Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy and calling it complete.
Easter Island Suite asks for time, attention, and trust, but it rewards all three. In an era dominated by fragments and playlists, John Vanore offers something increasingly rare: a sustained, coherent musical argument, and a reminder that jazz, at its most ambitious, is still capable of thinking symphonically.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, January 9th 2026
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To buy this album (February 6, 2026)
Musicians :
John Vanore, composer, trumpeter
Austin Wagner, drums
Lyndsie Wilson, French Horn
Ron Thomaa, piano
Michael Mee, alto saxopphone & alto flute
Dan Monaghan, dtrums
Greg Kettinger, guitar
Bob Howell, tenor & soprano saxophone
Mike Falcone, tenor saxophone
George Barnett, French horn
Track Listing :
Mvt.1 Discovery
Mvt.2 Gods and Devils
Mvt.3 The Secret Caves
Mvt.4 Rano Raraku
Recorded : June 19, 2024
Recorded by John Senior
Mixed & Mastered by John Vanore