Jason Squinobal
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Jason Squinobal

Band Jazz Funk

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Discography

"Jason Squinobal's Horizon Band: Live at Studio 59", Jason Squinobal, Recorded Live at Studio 59, Torrington CT, December 18th and 19th.
"In the Groove of Things", The Northwest Quartet, Recorded and Produced by Sean Sheridan, 2009
"African Horizons," The Jason Squinobal Quintet, Independently Recorded and Produced by
Jason Squinobal, 2008
"The Jason Squinobal Quintet: Featuring Vocalist Mannon Harsch," Independently Recorded and Produced by Jason Squinobal, 2007

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Bio

After earning a PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of Pittsburgh, Jason Squinobal moved back to Northwestern Connecticut where he has assembled a group of talented musicians who make up the Horizon Band. The Horizon Band is a high-energy music group that performs jazz infused with funky grooves and traditional West African music and rhythms. Their most recent performance was at the “Africa Meets North America Music Festival” in Los Angeles. The Horizon Band features Jason Squinobal on alto saxophone and bass clarinet, Sean Sheridan on guitar, AJ Bunel on piano and keyboards and Jerome Morris on drums. Through his research as an ethnomusicologist Squinobal has become a specialist in fusing elements of West African music and Jazz. The Horizon Band focuses on performing his original compositions. These compositions feature strong rhythmic grooves with layered ostinotos and polyrhythms. Many of the melodic lines are drawn from West African traditional music, yet they are also reminiscent of the hard driving jazz groups of the 1960s. The Band also performs original versions of well-known jazz standards and popular songs like Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” and Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.”

Band Members
Jason Squinobal
As professional a musician, composer, educator, and scholar Dr. Jason Squinobal wears many hats. He has appeared in a wide range of venues from the Hartford Jazz Festival to the rural villages of Jamaica. Squinobal has also appeared at the Africa Meets North America Music Festival in Los Angeles, the Midwest Music Festival in Chicago and the University of Pittsburgh Annual Jazz Seminar. Jason specializes in West African infused jazz and funk, and plays alto saxophone and bass clarinet.
Dr. Squinobal has had the opportunity to attend some of the world’s finest performing arts schools including the Greater Hartford Academy of the Performing Arts, Interlochen Arts Academy, and Berklee College of Music. While attending Berklee, Squinobal study jazz improvisation with Jerry Bergonzi, Dave Santoro, George Garzone, Bill Pierce, Ed Tomasi, Shannon LeCleare, and Dino Govoni. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BM in Music Education. At the same time, he formed the Jason Squinobal Quartet (J.S.Q.) and performed in Boston, New York City and throughout New England. In addition to performing with his own groups Squinobal has also performed with Nathan T. Davis, Curtis Fuller, Antonio Hart, Jerry Bergonzi, Sean Jones, Jimmy Owens, Dwayne Dolphin, Roger Humphries, Steven Davis, Winard Harper. Dr. Squinobal is also a member of the Northwest Quartet, lead by Sean Sheridan, and Dave Overthrow’s Fusion Band.
Jason Squinobal earned his PhD in Ethnomusicology in April 2009 from the University of Pittsburgh where he specialized in West African music and Jazz studies. His dissertation entitled, “West African Music in the Music of Art Blakey, Yusef Lateef, and Randy Weston” explores the social and cultural influences that encouraged those three musicians to incorporate elements of West African music into their compositions and jazz performance. Squinobal’s research is focused on projects concerning African American music, jazz, and music of the African Diaspora. He has presented his research internationally at the Guelph Jazz festival and Symposium at Guelph University, Guelph Canada; the Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Conference at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut; and the New Jazz Histories Symposium, University of Salford, Manchester England. He has been teaching saxophone, clarinet, and flute privately and in public school systems for over ten years.