Trombonist Jason Forsythe Set To Release New Album
Trombonist and composer/arranger Jason Forsythe has been writing music for decades, but September 5, 2025 marks his first ever release solely as a composer with It’s About Time, via multi-Grammy-winner Brian Lynch’s Hollistic MusicWorks.
In addition to Lynch (Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Eddie Palmieri), who co-produced the nine-track collection alongside Forsythe and performs on trumpet and flugelhorn, the ensemble features an impressive lineup of heavy-hitters: tenor saxophonist Walt Weiskopf (Buddy Rich, Frank Sinatra, Steely Dan), trombonist Steve Davis (Chick Corea, Art Blakey, Jackie McLean), pianist Michael Weiss (Johnny Griffin, Art Farmer, Frank Wess), bassist Ugonna Okegwo (Clark Terry, Benny Golson, Tom Harrell), and drummer Andy Watson (Jim Hall, Jon Hendricks, Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra). Lynch, Weiskopf, Davis, and Weiss each have impressive discographies as bandleaders. Forsythe (noted for his extensive performing experience with Slide Hampton, Charli Persip, and Jaki Byard) primarily takes on the role of composer here, appearing only on the closing piece titled “Sanctity.”
Forsythe’s journey began in the ’60s and ’70s when, as a young jazz devotee, he transcribed hundreds of solos while developing his own voice as a composer. Physical limitations sidelined his performing career in the early 2000s, but he never stopped writing. “The jazz life, night after night, year after year, is a hard one,” he reflects. “But the music is still alive, and dying to be heard again.”
It’s About Time opens with “Fourth Rites,” featuring an ostinato bass line that subtly recalls the piano groove on Horace Silver’s “Senõr Blues.” The piece maximizes the harmonic allure of the fourth interval at a brisker tempo, with the horns playfully complementing the piano to create compelling harmonic substance through accessible chord changes that give soloists room to soar. Weiskopf’s standout solo infuses the performance with energy, followed by Davis with serious funkiness, then Lynch with a solo recalling his work with Silver. Finally, Weiss brings it home with hard swing. “There is a reason why they call them perfect fourths,” comments Forsythe.
“Simple Samba” shifts gears as a light bossa nova-esque tune, delicately led by Lynch’s lead on flugelhorn. Watson’s measured touch and the open, breezy space shaped by the horns ease the listener into the subtle harmonic language – simple yet complex—explored in the previous track.
“It is no surprise that trombone players, playing an instrument that blends more often than leads, understand the intricacies and drama of harmonies,” muses Forsythe, “That’s basically what they are hired to do every day. So many trombone players—from Slide Hampton and J.J. Johnson to Billy Byers, Bob Brookmeyer and Melba Liston, came up in the big bands to become arrangers.”
The composer’s observation provides a poignant summary of It’s About Time’s aurally magnetic effect, where dynamics are everything. Like the best film composers who enhance a scene’s mood with backdrop rather than dominance, Forsythe’s trombone parts—while sometimes featured in leads or solo breaks—gracefully underpin the overarching themes in service to the music.
As a New York trombonist, Forsythe spent years in Latin dance bands. “My sextet music comes directly out of that experience,” he explains.”The music was all about dancing and having fun—always accessible, never academic or esoteric, always swinging and rhythmic, always connecting with people having fun on the dance floor.”
“The Professor,” is dedicated to the late Bobby Rogovin, a trumpet player who grew up on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx in the 60s with an encyclopedic knowledge of his friends and colleagues, including trumpeters Donald Byrd and Kenny Dorham. The influence of both is evident on this track.
The fourth track, “It’s Got to Be Sweetness,” brings Davis’ trombone to the forefront as he introduces the tune by gently wrapping the listener in a quilt of long tones. The title comes from a 1959 interview where Lester Young, shortly before his death, said he was looking for “something soft.” The Davis-performed melody begins on the sixth, which Forsythe says “takes you in a different direction as a composer.”
The Latin-tinged “Probándome” delivers a happy, hummable melody, followed by the more straight-ahead “Home,” which features Watson on mallets. Each solo sets up a new soundscape where you can hear everyone listening and responding to each other.
Written in the Phrygian mode, “Outer Limits” pushes the boundaries of harmony to feature Weiskopf, an expert modal improviser. Watson sets the tone with experimental drumming that provides scaffolding for the groove. The horns traverse the darker mode as the rhythm shifts underneath, and Okegwo delivers a bass statement reminiscent of Jimmy Garrison before bringing the composition home.
“Sentimental” reworks the George Bassman/Tommy Dorsey classic “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You,” with trombone leading the introduction and bridge. Here, Forsythe embraced the challenge of centering the instrument to create a more contemporary feel for this evergreen standard beloved by trombonists.
It’s About Time closes with Forsythe’s composition, “Sanctity,” previously recorded by Meridian Arts Ensemble in 1998 on their album, Ear Mind I. This version begins with a churchy melody without rhythm section that grows thicker and more complex, adding ninths and 13ths to the core. Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra trumpeter Kenny Rampton states the melody alongside tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin (David Bowie, Maria Schneider, Steps Ahead). Forsythe describes McCaslin’s improvised flourish at the track’s conclusion as “individual brilliance on top of an ever-evolving structure—that is all Donny.”
Reflecting on his legacy as a jazz artist, Forsythe notes: “We all found our way to New York in the ’80s and ’90s to play this music and built our careers doing it. Our shared experience brought a certain sensibility of what this music should sound like.” Those results, captured on It’s About Time, urgently deserve to be heard.
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Tracklisting:
- Fourth Rites (5:57)
- Simple Samba (7:13)
- The Professor (6:18)
- It’s Got To Be Sweetness (3:19)
- Probándome (5:49)
- Home (6:14)
- Outer Limits (7:52)
- Sentimental*(6:03)
- Sanctity (3:32)
Brian Lynch – Trumpet and Flugelhorn
Walt Weiskopf – Tenor Saxophone
Steve Davis – Trombone
Michael Weiss – Piano
Ugonna Okegwo – Bass
Andy Watson – Drums
Guests:
Kenny Rampton – Trumpet on “Sanctity”
Donny McCaslin – Tenor Saxophone on “Sanctity”
Jason Forsythe – Compositions (ASCAP), Arrangements, Trombone on “Sanctity”
Source: Lydia Liebman Promotions
Photo Credits: Jeff Kravitz
Featured Image Left to Right: Steve Davis, Ugonna Okegwo, Michael Weiss, Walt Weiskopf, Jason Forsythe, Brian Lynch & Andy Watson
