Igmar Thomas' Revive Big Band
Founded in 2010, Igmar Thomas' Revive Big Band is one of the most forward?thinking large jazz ensembles of its generation. Heralded by the Village Voice as featuring New York City’s “most electrifying young lions in jazz,” the band has appeared at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Apollo Theater, NPR Tiny Desk, Central Park SummerStage, Winter JazzFest, and major festivals nationwide. They’ve performed alongside Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Sting, Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, J. Cole, Common, D’Angelo, Jill Scott, Dizzy Gillespie, Esperanza Spalding, Robert Glasper, Gregory Porter, Talib Kweli, Bilal, and Slick Rick.
The Revive Big Band’s well-honed musical sensibilities powerfully synthesize the art of the beat, treatment of melody, reverence of the standard, and nuances of sound and time. It expands the contemporary canon of composition and dwells at the crossroads of jazz, hip hop, soul and beyond. The band's repertoire features original compositions and inventive orchestrations of jazz standards and contemporary classics by artists ranging from Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard and Oliver Nelson to A Tribe Called Quest, J Dilla, Gangstarr, Bilal and more, in rare live performances. Its landmark release LIKE A TREE IT GROWS (2024) cements the ensemble’s role as a defining voice in contemporary Black music.
