WATCH: Jennifer Wharton’s Bonegasm Shares “Be Normal”

Trombone ensemble’s third album, Grit & Grace, out on October 20

October 13, 2023October 13, 2023 Ron Hart 0 Comments Alan Ferber, Bass Trombone, Carolina Calvache, Don Peretz, Evan Gregor, Jazz, Jennifer Wharton, Jennifer Wharton's Bonegasm, John Fedchock, Michael Eckroth, Miho Hazama, Nadje Noordhuis., Natalie Cressman, Nate Mayland, Samuel Torres., Trombone, Vanessa Perica

According to a 2019 article in Forbes Magazine, grit and grace are apparently the two attributes women need most in order to thrive in the business world.

Bass trombonist Jennifer Wharton proves she’s got both of those qualities in spades with the music she creates as leader of her trombone-based group cheekily called Bonegasm, whose third album carries those terms as its title.

On Grit & Grace, due out October 20th via the Sunnyside imprint, Wharton continues to give the trombone an overdue moment in the sun with a rapturous collection of new compositions played by a formidable ensemble featuring Wharton on bass trombone, along with trombonists John Fedchock, Nate Mayland and Alan Ferber, pianist Michael Eckroth, bassist Evan Gregor, drummer Don Peretz and, on half the tracks, percussionist Samuel Torres.

Jennifer Wharton’s Bonegasm (Image: John Abbott)

“That Forbes article really resonated with me,” Wharton says. “Here I am, a woman playing a ‘man’s instrument’ in jazz, which I started relatively late. I was looking for a way to make music mean more to me, so when I discovered I could have something of my own it changed my whole outlook on music. I just decided to put on my big girl pants and do this.”

Adding an even deeper dimension to the album’s feminine mystique is that Wharton had commissioned a group of accomplished women composers to write material for Grit & Grace: Vanessa Perica, Miho Hazama, Carolina Calvache, Natalie Cressman and Nadje Noordhuis. Wharton herself contributes her own compositions to the band for the first time as well.

“Dare I say, ‘I’m a feminist’?” muses Wharton. “I didn’t have any female role models coming up, so I’m trying to encourage young women. Then I looked at my band and realized it’s me and a bunch of dudes – just like most other bands I’m in – so I decided the answer was to commission only female composers for the third album.”

Jennifer Wharton’s Bonegasm Grit & Grace, Sunnyside 2023

Yet the first video for the album serves as a showcase for Wharton’s own “Be Normal,” which was arranged for her birthday by bandmate and husband John Fedchock. It’s title serves as a nod to Wharton’s own energy and a wink to a joke from the Mel Brooks comedy classic Young Frankenstein, when Gene Wilder realizes he put the wrong brain in his monster.

“My whole life I’ve wished I didn’t feel this constant need to be productive, but I guess my brain is just abnormal,” she admits.

Check out the video for “Be Normal” below and experience your first Bonegasm today.