New York is home to the world’s greatest jazz musicians. Meet five of the best, dressed in Sunspel
‘NYC has such a rich history when it comes to jazz music, and that has made it a place where many musicians come to “cut their teeth” as we say, and push themselves. The level of playing here is so high that it inevitably forces you to get better, and I think that’s something that drives most of us.’ So says Lauren Sevian, Grammy Award-winning baritone saxophonist and Associate Professor of Woodwinds at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. You can find her playing the clubs of New York’s jazz scene, fronting her own bands like the Lauren Sevian Quartet, Lioness and LSAT, or as a sidewoman in the prestigious Grammy-Award winning Mingus Big Band and other outfits.
Lauren Sevian, baritone saxophonist, in SoHo, New York. She wears a sleeveless high-neck top, £85, from Sunspel.
The intensity of the New York jazz scene is something testified to by fellow saxophonist, tenor player Sam Dillon. Dillon is also a regular of the Mingus Big Band and plays in many storied venues around the city like Zinc Bar, Smalls Jazz Club and Birdland. If he’s not leading the Sam Dillon Quartet or co-leading the Andrew Gould/Sam Dillon Quintet, he’ll be in the front row of The Birdland Big Band, The 8-Bit Big Band, Jimmy Heath Big Band or Slide Hampton Octet.
Dillon grew up in a loft in Tribeca and then on Long Island, and when he graduated with his Master’s degree from music college he realised he was going to have to be at the top of his game to become a pro player and earn his living from music. ‘I’ve never practised as hard as during the first two or three years after college,’ he remembers. ‘I was practising about 10 hours each day, because you want to keep up.’
It’s a tough gig playing in New York. Dillon tells of how, when he first started playing with the Mingus Big Band, he met the great bass player’s widow, Sue, at one of their shows. ‘I’d played and afterwards I approached her because I wanted to introduce myself. I remember that she held onto my hand, looked at me and just said, “You’ll do”!’
Alphonso Horne, trumpeter, at Dizzy’s Club, New York. He wears a short-sleeve textured jersey shirt, £225, and pleated linen trouser, £325, both Sunspel.
Jimmy O’Connell, trombonist, in SoHo, New York. He wears a linen twill twin- pocket jacket, £355, Riviera midweight T-shirt, £90, and cotton linen trouser, £245, all Sunspel
It’s the level of dedication and excellence that distinguishes the jazz community in New York, and means that on any given night you can hear the best of the best. Like trumpeter Alphonso Horne, a regular at Dizzy’s Club, The Django and Birdland, who played in A Wonderful World, the Louis Armstrong musical on Broadway and has featured in The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s house band. Or trombonist Jimmy O’Connell, who also regularly plays at Dizzy’s Club, and the Blue Note, Birdland and Smalls Jazz Club, and performs with Grammy Award-winners The 8-Bit Big Band. Andrew Gould, alto saxophonist, who co-leads a quintet with Sam Dillon, says, ‘NYC has the highest concentration of places to play, and that makes people from around the world want to come here.’
For Brummell, we decided to photograph these five leading New York jazz lights in their home environment, and dress them in the type of casual look that players like Miles Davis and Chet Baker adopted in the ’50s for both comfort and, we assume, to reflect their free-spirited attitude. Our choice, as Brits, was to turn to Sunspel of Long Eaton, on account of its long history of making this sort of relaxed clothing, and because it was instrumental in importing US styles like T-shirts and boxer shorts to the UK. Jazz musicians have always been stylish.‘There’s a rock music thing where sometimes you’re really trying to look like you’re not trying, or like you’re a bit grungy,’ says Dillon.
Andrew Gould, alto saxophonist, at Pinch Recording studios. He wears a button-down Oxford shirt, £175, and regular fit chino, £175, both Sunspel.
‘Jazz musicians tend not to do that.’ When asked for his all-time best-dressed jazz player, Dillon says it’s a tough call between John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Gould agrees in part: ‘For me, I’d say Sonny Rollins. I love his album covers and how he’s always dressed in such a slick way. Check out the cover of The Bridge or Newk’s Time. I think he was ahead of his time. You could make a strong case for Miles Davis too, but I want to give Sonny a shout!’
