Trumpeter Jim Rotondi earned deep respect as a post-bop stylist whose warm sound and bold improvisational style drew heavily from the lineage of jazz’s greatest brass players. He first gained notice on the New York circuit during the 1990s, issuing a series of compelling small-group recordings such as Jim’s Bop, Destination Up, and 1000 Rainbows. Throughout those years he also served as a core member of the collective One for All alongside saxophonist Eric Alexander. Early in the following decade Rotondi relocated to Europe, taking up residence in France while joining the faculty of the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Austria. There he captured the orchestral date Finesse with conductor and arranger Jakob Helling; the album appeared only four months prior to his death.
Rotondi entered the world in 1962 in Butte, Montana. Piano instruction began under his mother’s guidance at age eight, yet the trumpet became his primary instrument starting at twelve. Upon receiving his high-school diploma in 1980 he enrolled in the acclaimed jazz curriculum at North Texas State University. In 1984 he captured first place in the International Trumpet Guild’s jazz trumpet contest. After college he traveled extensively with ensembles that included the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and Charles Earland’s quintet. Once established in New York City he became a fixture on the local club circuit.
Rotondi helped launch the supergroup One for All in 1997 together with Eric Alexander and drummer Joe Farnsworth, an association that produced an extensive recorded legacy. That same year he issued his first album, Introducing Jim Rotondi, on the Dutch imprint Criss Cross. Subsequent releases arrived at a steady pace: Jim’s Bop (1998), Excursions (2000), Destination Up (2001), New Vistas (2004), Iron Man (2006), Four of a Kind (2008), 1000 Rainbows (2010), and Hard Hittin’ at the Bird’s Eye (2013). During the 2000s he increasingly divided his time between continents, eventually settling in France and accepting a professorship in jazz at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria. Outside the classroom he continued to tour and record both as a leader and within One for All. Two further quintet sessions appeared, Dark Blue on Smoke Sessions Records in 2016 and Over Here on Criss Cross Jazz in 2023. In 2024 he completed Finesse, an orchestral project partly inspired by Clifford Brown with Strings; the sessions took place in Austria under Jakob Helling’s direction and featured trombonist Steve Davis, saxophonist Dick Oatts, and pianist Danny Grisset. Rotondi passed away on July 8, 2024, at his residence in Le Crest, Auvergne, France, at the age of 61.
