Advocating communication and improvisation on stage, the acclaimed Mintzer — who attended Interlochen Arts Academy — brings his quartet to northern Michigan on Saturday. The Local Spins interview.

‘Intense Calmness’: Bob Mintzer espouses that approach for live performances. (Courtesy Photo)
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Saxophone titan Bob Mintzer relishes the chance to reconnect with longtime friends and former bandmates for a brief tour that includes a Saturday (March 9) date at The Alluvion in Traverse City.
Mintzer and his quartet – drummer John Riley, bassist Jay Anderson and pianist Phil Markowitz – will fill the cozy sounds of the listening room on Eighth Street with music he’s written over the course of his five-decade career and a musical approach he’s honed over that same time.
The acclaimed saxophonist — an alumnus of the Interlochen Arts Academy — has played with the likes of Buddy Rich, Jaco Pastorius, Eumir Deodato, Tito Puente, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, among countless others.
While a resident of the Big Apple in the ’80s and ’90s, he spent time working in the studios. Mintzer also helmed his own big band for some 20 years, an assemblage of some of New York’s best jazz players, including Randy and Michael Brecker, Marvin Stamm, Lew Soloff, Barry Rogers, Don Grolnick, Will Lee and Peter Erskine, with an occasional assist from the likes of Michael Franks and Kurt Elling.

Returning to Northern Michigan: Mintzer (Photo/Alberto Reina/Phocus)
He relocated from New York to Los Angeles in 2008, when he began teaching at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. In 2016, he also took on the position as chief conductor of the WDR Big Band in Cologne, Germany. Mintzer is probably best known for his 32-year association with the Yellowjackets, a band that plays jazz with strains of R&B, rock and fusion mixed in, sort of a successor to the likes of Weather Report.
That’s a lot of music, and a lot of different approaches.
“What’s the through-line?” Mintzer asked rhetorically. “A musical conception that connects it. I don’t play differently too much.”
He says the same is true of his composing. “I think of the big band as a quartet with a wind section. My approach is similar – set up the structure, and allow for improvisation. The key word in all of it is conversation. Writing facilitates their playing by creating an environment.”
One of the perks of this tour for Mintzer is the chance to reunite with the other members of the quartet. Riley, Anderson and Markowitz were longstanding members of his New York big band. “This seemed like a golden opportunity to reconnect,” he says.
Another is that as a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Mintzer is familiar with the area and is excited to be playing in Traverse City. It was at Interlochen that he met drummer Erskine, who became a lifelong friend and fellow bandmember of Pastorius’s Word of Mouth band, as well as playing with Mintzer’s big band and serving a brief stint in Yellowjackets.
Over the years, Mintzer has returned to the area as a performer and as a dad (his son, Paul, is also a graduate of Interlochen). Despite the potential vagaries of the weather – he’s hoping for not too much snow – he is looking forward to the show.

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While his work with Yellowjackets often veers into more electric, fusion territory, including Mintzer playing EWI (electronic wind instrument), this is a more acoustic venture. “I like it all. It depends on the context. Acoustic, with upright bass, you have a softer volume, more opportunity for texture. I can hear myself more clearly,” he says.
Whatever the context, he says it is all about the interplay and being in touch with the other musicians. It goes back to that idea of a musical conversation. “The bottom line is how good a listener you are.
“When I was in my 20s I had a different viewpoint. All tenor (players) were devotees of Sonny (Rollins) and Coltrane – lots of notes, a lot of energy. We wanted to emulate our heroes.”
That approach has changed over time. “I try not to overplay or overwrite,” he says. “We live in a busy world. Volume is paramount. Young players have chops beyond comprehension.”
He now embraces an aesthetic where sometimes less really is more, something he attributes to some of his forebears. “Think Stan Getz, Lester Young. They had a certain intense calmness.”
Tickets for the Saturday show at the intimate Alluvion are $30 in advance, available through MyNorthTickets.com here. Tickets at the door are $35 the night of the 7:30 p.m. show.
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