Bob Mintzer

Robert Alan Mintzer (born January 27, 1953) is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader.

Mintzer was born and raised in a Jewish family in New Rochelle, New York, on January 27, 1953. He attended the Interlochen Arts Academy, Michigan from 1969 to 1970, then was at the Hartt School of Music, Hartford, Connecticut for two years, before attending the Manhattan School of Music from 1972 to 1974.

Early in his career, Mintzer played in various big bands, including those led by Buddy Rich (1975–77), Thad Jones and Mel Lewis (1977–79), and Sam Jones (1978–80). While with Rich, he began writing big band music, and has since composed and arranged hundreds of pieces. In 2008, Mintzer and his family moved to Los Angeles, where he joined the faculty of the University of Southern California.

He is a member of the Grammy® award-winning Yellowjackets and holds the Buzz McCoy endowed chair of jazz studies at the University of Southern California.

In 2014, he agreed to become Chief Conductor of the WDR Big Band in Cologne, Germany, sharing the job 50:50 with Vince Mendoza.

As leader

• Papa Lips, (Explore, 1984)
• Incredible Journey, (DMP, 1985)
• Camouflage, (DMP, 1986)
• Live at the Berlin Jazz Festival, (1987)
• Spectrum, (DMP, 1988)
• Urban Contours, (DMP, 1989)
• Art of the Big Band, (DMP, 1991)
• I Remember Jaco (Novus, 1992)
• One Music, (DMP, 1991)
• Departure, (DMP, 1993)
• Only in New York, (DMP, 1994)
• Twin Tenors (Novus, 1994)
• The First Decade, (DMP, 1995)
• Big Band Trane, (DMP, 1996)
• Live, (1996)
• Latin from Manhattan, (DMP, 1998)
• Quality Time, (TVT, 1998)
• Homage to Count Basie, (DMP, 2000)
• Bop Boy (Explore, 2002)
• Gently, (2003)
• Live at MCG with Special Guest Kurt Elling, (MCG Jazz, 2004)
• Hymn (Mesa, Blue Moon, Owl, Universal, 1992, 2006)
• Old School: New Lessons featuring Kurt Elling, (Telarc/MCG Jazz, 2006))
• Source (Explore, 1982, 2007)
• Longing (EmArcy, Owl, Universal, Sunnyside, 2003, 2006, 2007)
• In the Moment (Art of Life, 2007)
• Universal Syncopations, Vol. 2 (ECM, 2007)
• Swing Out, (Telarc/MCG Jazz, 2008)
• La Vita e Bella (Abeat, 2009)
• Canyon Cove, (2010)
• The Hudson Project (Concord Midline/Stretch/Universal, 2011)
• For the Moment, (MCG Jazz, 2012)
• Get Up (MCG Jazz, 2015)
• All L.A. Band (Fuzzy, 2016)
• Meeting of Minds with New York Voices (MCG Jazz, 2018)

As co-leader

With Peter Erskine, Darek Oleszkiewicz, Alan Pasqua

• Standards 2: Movie Music (Fuzzy Music, 2010)

With Yellowjackets

• Greenhouse, 1991
• Live Wires, 1992
• Like a River, 1993
• Runferyerlife, 1994
• Collection, 1995
• Dreamland, 1995
• Blue Hats, 1997
• Club Nocturne, 1998
• Priceless Jazz Collection, 1998
• The Best of Yellowjackets, 1999
• Mint Jam, 2002
• Time Squared, 2003
• Peace Round, 2003
• Altered State, 2005
• Twenty Five, 2006
• Lifecyle featuring Mike Stern, 2008
• Timeline, 2011
• A Rise in the Road, 2013
• Cohearance, 2016
• Raising Our Voice featuring Luciana Souza, 2018

As sideman

With the GRP All-Star Big Band

• GRP All Star Big Band: GRP All-Star Big Band (GRP, 1992)
• GRP All-Star Big Band: Dave Grusin Presents GRP All-Star Big Band Live!, (GRP, 1993)
• GRP All-Star Big Band: All Blues, (GRP, 1995)

With Others

• Sam Jones: Something New (Interplay, 1979)
• Jaco Pastorius: Invitation (Warner Bros., 1983)
• Miroslav Vitouš: Universal Syncopations II (ECM, 1995)
• Bobby McFerrin: Bang! Zoom (Blue Note, 1995)
• Nova Bossa Nova: Jazz Influence (Arkadia Jazz, 1997)
• Toninho Horta: From Ton to Tom (Video Arts Music, 1998)
• New York Voices: A Day Like This (MCG Jazz, 2007)
• The Sean J. Kennedy Quartet: Queen Anne's Revenge (Lost World, 2007)
• Tohpati: Save the Planet (Ethnomission, 2010)
• Kurt Elling: The Gate (Concord, 2011)
• Dewa Budjana: Joged Kahyangan (Moonjune, 2013)
• Kait Dunton: Mountain Suite (Real & Imagined, 2012)
• Roberto Tola: Bein' Green (RT Music, 2017)