"Sheer, out-of-the-box musicality… revealed the joys and complexities of free improvising." -- The Los Angeles Times
"The group was roaring with the kind of chemistry that could truly be deemed collective." -- San Francisco Chronicle
"The best overall live jazz set this writer has heard in the New Millennium." — All About Jazz
Modernity is the mantra of the SFJAZZ Collective, an all-star jazz ensemble comprising some of the finest performer/composers at work in jazz today—including DownBeat Critics Poll "Artist of the Year" honorees Dave Douglas (2006) and Joe Lovano (2001). Launched in 2004 by SFJAZZ—the West Coast's largest nonprofit jazz institution and the presenter of the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival—the Collective has quickly become one of the most exciting and acclaimed groups on the American and international jazz scenes—including honors as "Rising Star Jazz Group of the Year" in the 2006 DownBeat Critics Poll. As The New York Times hailed the Collective upon its debut: "A serious jazz band rises in San Francisco."
In addition to its stellar line-up, the SFJAZZ Collective has been praised for its innovative approach to repertoire. Each year, the ensemble performs an entirely new list of works, consisting of compositions by a modern jazz master (in new arrangements commissioned by SFJAZZ) and one new piece by each of the Collective members (also commissioned by SFJAZZ). Through this pioneering approach, simultaneously honoring jazz's recent history while championing the music's up-to-the-minute directions, the Collective embodies SFJAZZ's organizational commitment to jazz as a living, ever-changing, and ever-relevant art form.