Bob Mintzer is at the very top of the list of outstanding jazz tenor saxophonists who have been top-tier players, composers, and arrangers. After gaining experience as a sideman in the bands of Tito Puente, Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Sam Jones, Jaco Pastorius, and working in every imaginable musical situation as a freelancer in NYC, Bob began his own big band in 1984 with the issue of his first album: Horn Man Band. Bob has created 16 big band albums under his name which feature great jazz artists along with his own playing and writing skills. Since 2014 Bob has also been the principal conductor/arranger of the WDR Big Band in Cologne, Germany. He has created the last 3 albums with that esteemed ensemble including their most recent: Soundscapes. As a leader of small groups, he has released 17 recordings in addition to appearing as a guest soloist on numerous projects of others. Since 1991, Bob has been a member of the formidable jazz/rock/fusion quartet, The Yellowjackets. His writing and performing abilities have been featured on their concerts worldwide as well as on their last 23 albums. In 2008, Bob and his family relocated from NYC to southern California in order to serve as a professor of jazz studies at the Thornton School of Music at USC. He has contributed to the expanding field of jazz pedagogy with 8 books that explore developing one’s jazz improvisational skills as well as saxophone prowess. In the concert field, Bob has written 3 saxophone quartets and a work for tenor saxophone and concert band. Bob is also an accomplished multiple woodwind artist