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Bracing big band sound from quality quintet

THE TRIPLE-HORNED dinosaur Triceratops is also the name of a three-horn quintet led by 42-year-old Chicago trombonist John Yao.

First inspired by the trombone artistry of JJ Johnson, Frank Rosolino and Fred Wesley, after graduating from Indiana State University Yao played  trombone in the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

Triceratops is a very different proposition. “The alto/soprano sax, tenor sax and trombone formation allowed me to get a big sound with just three horns,” he says. “Altoist Billy Drewes inspires me with his freewheeling, open approach, while tenorist John Irabagon is such a creative musician who structures his solos with an unlimited vocabulary.

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