Trombonist/composer JC Sanford and his band, EQ (i.e., Electric Quartet) offer up a creative tour de force with Sanford’s eighth album as a leader: Denki, which translates to “electricity” from Japanese. Sanford’s experimentations with pedals and effects animated this collection of dynamic tunes, which pulls from open improvisation, Stevie Wonder, and German metal alike. Denki is available on Oct. 10 via Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records.

Band Members:
JC Sanford - Trombone/Effects
Toivo Hannigan - Guitar/Effects
Erik Fratzke - Electric Bass
Ben Ehrlich - Drums

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JC Sanford’s life in music takes on many shapes and forms. He has worked with stalwarts such as Danilo Pérez, Matt Wilson, John McNeil, and George Schuller. From producer, conductor, composer, and bandleader to sideman in many of New York City’s most revered ensembles (including Andrew Rathbun Large Ensemble, Nathan Parker Smith’s prog-rock big band, Andrew Green’s film noir tribute Narrow Margin, singer-songwriter Joy Askew’s New York Brass, and Joseph C. Phillips, Jr.’s jazz/new music hybrid, Numinous), Sanford does it all with aplomb.

It takes a musician of Sanford’s breadth and depth to create the music you hear on his latest and greatest, Denki, a pastiche which can conjure up in the listener’s mind, almost simultaneously, his mentor Bob Brookmeyer, other trombone legends such as Curtis Fuller or Slide Hampton, Stevie Wonder, and Black Sabbath! This is an artist who embraces inspiration when it hits, and if that means plugging in and shaking the foundation of stages and studios in the process, so be it.

A few years back, as COVID-19 loosened its grip on the world, Sanford began experimenting with guitar effects pedals while playing in Minneapolis with friends Andrea Mazzariello and Brady Lenzen. “I eventually brought my new system to a gig to experiment in a live situation, and people, especially those who had heard me play a lot before, were like, ‘You should do more of that!’ So I started to venture down the rabbit hole of effects/pedals/electronics. It was quite a revelation for me suddenly having all these new soundscapes available, but I’ve always been conscious about the results not being a gimmick, but an enhancement of my language and timbre,” explains Sanford.

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JC Sanford has been recognized in the prestigious DownBeat Critics' Poll over the past 10 years in the trombone, big band, and arranger categories. While he originally built a reputation through big band writing, Sanford has dabbled in many other areas, including composing for solo piano, wind and brass formations, and various mixed chamber ensembles. His original works often defy labels such as “jazz” or “classical.” A founding member of the composers' federation Pulse (with Darcy James Argue and Joseph C. Phillips, Jr.), Sanford was a member of the BMI Jazz Composer’s Workshop led by Jim McNeely and Mike Abene for five years. His works have been performed by John Abercrombie, Lew Soloff, Dave Liebman, Danilo Pérez, and a number of universities and high schools across the United States.

His 2014 debut recording with the JC Sanford Orchestra Views From The Inside, yielded international acclaim and was awarded a 2014 Aaron Copland Fund Recording Grant alongside organizations and ensembles such as the Seattle Symphony, Nonesuch Records, and American Composers Forum. He is also the leader of several small groups: the JC Sanford Quartet, the Imminent Standards Trio, the chamber jazz trio Triocracy, and a trio with pianist Michael Cain and bassist Anthony Cox.

Sanford is in high demand as a conductor of new original music. He conducts the Grammy-nominated John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, the Alan Ferber Nonet with Strings, the Frank Carlberg Large Ensemble, and the Alice Coltrane Orchestra featuring Ravi Coltrane and Jack DeJohnette. He recently was guest conductor for the North German Radio Big Band (NDR), and Quinsin Nachoff’s new “Patterns in Nature” multimedia project. He was also the curator for the "Size Matters" large ensemble series in Brooklyn for more than four years.

Since returning to Minnesota with his family in 2016, Sanford has performed as a trombonist in the Twin Cities area with JT Bates, Chris Bates, Davu Seru, Anthony Cox, Babatunde Lea, Zacc Harris, Dave Hagedorn, and Dylan Hicks. In 2017, he co-founded the Twin Cities Jazz Composers’ Workshop alongside his wife, Asuka Kakitani; trumpeter Adam Meckler; and saxophonist Aaron Hedenstrom. Sanford received a 2018 McKnight Composer Fellowship, a 2019 MN State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant to record his quartet, 2021 and 2022 Creative Support Grants to record his Imminent Standards Trio, and another in 2023 to record his NEW PAST Trio with Michael Cain and Anthony Cox. He also is the monthly blog curator for the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers (ISJAC), and is currently teaching jazz and Western music theory at Gustavus Adolphus College.

JC Sanford is a Fiscal year 2025 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.

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Toivo Hannigan is a guitarist, composer, producer, and software engineer based in Minneapolis. After graduating from Berklee in 2020, Hannigan moved back to the Twin Cities, where he furthered his career as a freelance musician. Hannigan regularly performs with acts including Jake Baldwin, JT Bates, Bryan and the Haggards, and Larry Wish.

Erik Fratzke is a composer/performer/educator based in St. Paul, MN. Best known as the bassist of Happy Apple, he also leads his own quartet, Fake Accent. He is also a member of Craig Taborn’s Junk Magic and Cory Healey’s Beautiful Sunshine Band. As a guitarist, Fratzke is a member of The Dave King Trucking Company, the avant-metal group Abhorrent Expanse, Scott Miller’s Fifth Column Ensemble, The Gang Font feat. Greg Norton, and the instrumental rock group Zebulon Pike. His compositions have been performed and recorded by the new music group Zeitgeist. Fratzke has performed and/or recorded with Tim Berne, Ethan Iverson, Adam Levy, Michel Portal, Rhys Chatham, Airto, Benoit Delbec, and Yoshida Tatsuya (Ruins).

Ben Ehrlich is a drummer, educator, and composer based in Minneapolis, MN. After studying with Ed Soph and graduating from the University of North Texas in 2018, Ben moved back to his home state and quickly became one of the top call drummers in the Twin Cities jazz scene. Recognized for his versatility, Ben has had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Randy Brecker, Kurt Elling, Diane Schuur, Jens Lindemann, Davina and the Vagabonds, Javier Santiago, the JazzMN Orchestra, Leslie Vincent, and many others, including rock, blues and indie artists from around the country.