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The debut recording of the Peter Leitch New Life Orchestra, New Life, has been released! The 2-CD set of mostly Peter Leitch original music is meant to bring the listener into a jazz club atmosphere--two sets, two CDs. You can leave after one set--but you won't want to! With this release, Peter celebrates the time given to him by his successful treatment for stage 4 lung cancer. Although he can no longer play the guitar, he has channeled his creativity into composing, orchestrating and directing this wonderful 14-piece orchestra! Enjoy

Peter Leitch is a New York based composer, orchestrator and leader of the Peter Leitch New Life Orchestra. The former critically acclaimed guitarist has performed in such popular rooms as Club 75, Sweet Basil, Sweet Rhythm, Jazz Standard, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, The Blue Note, Bradley's, Zinno, Visiones and Birdland and has placed several times in the DownBeat International Jazz Critics Poll. He has been profiled in numerous magazine articles.

A tour favorite, Peter and his groups have appeared at festivals and clubs in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. Versatile in a broad range of jazz artistry, he has worked/recorded with some of his profession's greatest performers: Oscar Peterson, Ron Carter, Milt Jackson, Woody Shaw, Pepper Adams, Jaki Byard, Jack McDuff, Kenny Wheeler, Al Grey, and John Hicks.

Peter is also an accomplished black and white photographer and has mounted several solo shows of his work, including of fellow musicians, New York street scenes, Mississippi and the South, and the newest New York to New Orleans. In addition, he has co-created several videos for which he has composed music. This has led to an exploration of new (and old) areas of music. Click on the icons above to see!

In 1997, Peter initiated his Sunday Nights at Walker's, one of New York City's longest running jazz engagements. Still playing more than ten years later, each weekly engagement features a duo performance with a guest artist. Gary Bartz, Ray Drummond, Bobby Watson, Sean Smith, Harvie S, Dwayne Burno, Steve Wilson, Jed Levy and Charles Davis have all shared Sunday's spotlight in this enduring jazz tradition.

During 1993-94, Peter was the Musical Director of "Guitars Play Mingus," the 5-guitar and rhythm section ensemble performing the music of Charles Mingus.

In 1991, Peter was artist-in-residence at Western Australia Academy of the Performing Arts, Perth and Elder Conservatorium, Adelaide.

Peter has been an adjunct professor at Long Island University and has taught at the National Guitar Workshop and the Vermont Jazz Center, the Summer Guitar Workshop at New York University and the Berkeley College of Music. He conducts workshops, master classes and clinics in jazz guitar and improvisation in the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia.

Peter's recordings are available on the Jazz House Reservoir, Concord and Criss Cross Jazz labels (see Discography).

The Peter Leitch New Life Orchestra is available for bookings.

Peter Leitch Composing and Arranging

Peter Leitch Celebrates New Life With the Release of the First New Life Orchestra Recording

The debut recording of the Peter Leitch New Life Orchestra, New Life, has been released! The 2-CD set of mostly Peter Leitch original music is meant to bring the listener into a jazz club atmosphere--two sets, two CDs. You can leave after one set--but you won't want to! With this release, Peter celebrates the time given to him by his successful treatment for stage 4 lung cancer. Although he can no longer play the guitar, he has channeled his creativity into composing, orchestrating and directing this wonderful 14-piece orchestra! Enjoy

Additional Program notes for the New Life Orchestra

Disc One

1. Mood For Max. This piece is dedicated to Dr. Maxim Kreditor, the brilliant oncologist who treated me for cancer. Featured soloists are Bill Mobley, Steve Wilson and Peter Zak.
2. Portrait Of Sylvia. For the love of my life, my wonderful wife Sylvia Levine. This was composed many years ago when we first met. The piece has continued to evolve over the years, like our relationship. Solos by Duane Eubanks and the great British guitarist Phil Robson.
3. Sorta, Kinda. Neither one thing nor the other, but a kind of stretched out blues form featuring Phil Robson, Steve Wilson and Duane Eubanks.
4. Monk's Circle. Composed on the occasion of the official renaming of the cul-de-sac at the western end of W. 63 Street (where the Monk family resided for years) to "Thelonious Sphere Monk Circle" in 1983.
5. Round Midnight. A return to its composer's original structure, after hearing so many "deconstructions" of this beautiful piece of music over the years. Featured are Duane Eubanks and Phil Robson.
6. Penumbra. In visual art, the line that divides light and shadow. Soloists: Jed Levy and Phil Robson.
7. Brilliant Blue, Twilight Blue. This is about the changing colors of the sky, with its shifting rhythms and changing tempos. Solos by Matt Haviland, Tim Harrison and Steve Wilson.
8. Fulton Street Suite. 19th century lower Manhattan in three parts. Prelude: The mystique with its ancient streets; the beginnings of the Broadway stage in Joe Strasser's drum solo " Theater Alley"; and the fast Blues: the ups and downs of the financial markets that made New York "The capital of the 20th century." Solos by Phil Robson, Steve Wilson, Jed Levy and Peter Zak.

Disc Two

1. Exhilaration. Arriving in New York, 1982. The city of my dreams. In a manic phase, I felt as if I owned everything - the concrete, glass and steel, the crowded filthy crater-pocked streets. And above all, the music! Solos by Bill Mobley, Jed Levy, Peter Zak and Duane Eubanks.
2. Elevanses. Wordplay reconciling the ear and the eye. A nod to Gil Evans and Walker Evans. Also a mid- morning coffee break. This is a feature for Steve Wilson.
3. Clifford Jordan. A tribute to one of my favorite saxophone players and composers. Featured are Jed Levy on tenor and Carl Maraghi on baritone.
4. Ballad for Charles Davis. "I'm not a baritone player. I'm not a tenor player. I'm a saxophone player." So said the great Charles Davis. Playing with Charles was like playing with the entire history of Black American music. Jed Levy and Phil Robson deliver concise moving statements.
5. The Minister's Son. Jed Levy's remembrance of the late great pianist John Hicks. I arranged it as kind of a concerto for Jed's tenor saxophone with brass.
6. Spring Is Here. A beautiful example of the American ballad form from Rodgers and Hart, slightly reharmonized, with a suggestion of South America in its rhythms. Peter Zak is featured, along with pertinent comments from Phil Robson.
7. Back Story. Everything has a "back story." In the case of music, the "back story" is the Blues, Black America's contribution to the world's music. Its inflections have seeped into everything we hear. This is a traditional slow blues featuring some "greasy" work by our trombonists Max Siegel on bass trombone, and Matt Haviland on tenor trombone.
8. Tutwiler 2001. A small town in Tallahatchie county , Mississippi, as it appeared in 2001, before the state finally formally recognized its own deep musical tradition. At this point in time it was a place of extreme poverty and desolation. In 1955 it was where Emmet Till's body was prepared for burial. Yet it had a rich history -- it was a railroad town which was one of the major points of departure in the great migration north. It was where W.C. Handy first heard the blues, performed by a lone singer/guitarist on the station platform, using a knife blade on the strings.
9. The Long Walk Home. Another version of the old twelve bar -- a basic "big band" sounding chart, which features just about everyone. Of particular interest is Chad Coe's great Freddie Green styled rhythm guitar, performed on an original 1940s D'Angelico guitar. Well, you've left your wallet at home, and spent all your cash at the bar: Start walking!

Peter Leitch
By Ken Dryden,
The New York City Jazz Record

After several decades of building an impressive discography as a guitarist, leader and composer, Peter Leitch nearly lost his life in a battle with lung cancer diagnosed five years ago. Now in remission, Leitch is upbeat and productive, though he no longer can play the guitar. “I’ve been off chemo for almost three years, but I’m still experiencing after-effects. I didn’t have surgery, but a lot of chemo and radiation. They think that the radiation damaged the nerve plexus and prevented me from using my left arm and playing the guitar, though my fingers still work. I’m still doing physical therapy, which is progressing very slowly.”

A native of Montréal, Leitch came to jazz in several ways. “I became exposed to the music through radio and television, then there were several jazz clubs in the early ‘60s bringing in a lot of people from New York. I got to hear most of the great players: Miles, Monk and Coltrane. It was inspiring to hear them live. I didn’t have formal instruction in school, but I took private lessons with guitar teachers. I hung out with several jazz guitarists and they taught me. I had all of these great teachers on records: Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall and Kenny Burrell. I came down to New York one time to have a lesson with Jim Hall. I spent the afternoon with him and he gave me enough to work on and think about for years to come.”

Moving to New York City, Leitch found regular work, including stints with several major artists. He played alongside saxophonist Jed Levy, who became a good friend and frequent collaborator; they played together in Brother Jack McDuff’s band and Jaki Byard’s Apollo Stompers. He began recording frequently as a leader in the ‘80s, first for Criss Cross then Concord Jazz and Reservoir throughout the ‘90s. Leitch also wrote liner notes for his CDs and those by other artists, in addition to honing skills as a photographer.

While illness curtailed his performing career, once his recovery was underway, Leitch found that his interest in music was still strong. “At my age [74], I considered myself retired from the music business. I couldn’t play anymore. But I couldn’t get rid of this urge to be involved in music and it seemed to me that the only way I could do it was to start writing. I wrote a few things and wanted to hear what they sounded like, set up a rehearsal and it went from there. Suddenly I found myself being a bandleader, which I didn’t expect to happen.” The result is his New Life Orchestra.

Leitch’s composition process may take several different paths. “I can find a fragment, melodic line or bass line. It might not go anywhere and sit, then suddenly I’ll go back to it and develop it into something. Other times a piece will seem to write itself in a couple of hours. With this bigger band, I’ve taken a couple of earlier pieces that I composed for record dates with smaller groups and expanded the arrangement for this 12-piece band. Some are new, specifically written for this band. Most of it is original music, though I have taken a couple of standard pieces, for example ‘‘Round Midnight’, which was the first piece I arranged for this group, because I thought I would start with a piece of music that I knew really well.”

One of things that sets Leitch’s ensemble apart from groups of similar size is the instrumentation. “Some of the pieces were written with recording in mind because it is a different setup than the standard big band. I’m using some combinations of instruments that aren’t necessarily self-balancing like sax, trumpet and trombone sections. I’m using mixed combinations of instruments in the orchestrations, which gives it a different sound. Being a guitarist, I started writing several pieces that were guitar features, because I don’t hear a lot of that kind of writing for guitar, in terms of integrating it into a larger ensemble with horns. Since I’m no longer an improvising instrumentalist, I’ve been thinking about music in a different way, in terms of thinking orchestrally. I do miss the in-the-moment aspect of being an improvising musician. I have to remember that when writing and leave a lot of space for some of the great soloists we’ve got in this band. Guitarist Phil Robson is from the U.K.. I am really knocked out with his playing. He’s much better known in Europe. I consider myself fortunate to have Steve Wilson in this band, he’s been one of my favorite alto players for years. We’ve played duets together a few times.” Trumpeter Bill Mobley, a noted composer/ arranger himself and a part of Leitch’s band, said, “I’m looking forward to Peter’s upcoming concert. His original melodies range from hauntingly beautiful to classically inventive to playful. His orchestration also has a wide range of colors and textures, from dense and dissonant to light, airy and contrapuntal. His stuff is fun and challenging for the musician but more fun for the listener to take all this in.” Another member, pianist Peter Zak, shared his thoughts: “The Peter Leitch band has been a good experience. The music is unique and has a lot of space in it for soloing and interaction and always swings or grooves. Peter’s orchestrations for a medium-sized group have a personal stamp on them, in particular with choice of instruments, such as multiple flutes combined with guitar.”

Leitch has been pleased with the band’s progress and is looking forward to their official live debut this month. He is proud of the hard work of his musicians. “I’m hoping that this band can get recorded, but I’m not holding my breath with the state of the music business as it is now. I have some rough home recordings of rehearsals, which I’m using to rip apart and rewrite things. We have about 15 pieces of music so far and we’re trying to concentrate on honing these rather than keep adding new material.”

Peter Leitch has hung up his guitar—career-ending nerve damage following successful treatment for a serious illness has caused Peter to refocus his musical energies on composing and arranging. The result: the Peter Leitch New Life Orchestra, a 14-piece band of some of New York’s finest first-call artists performing Peter Leitch’s own compositions and arrangements of a small selection of other pieces.

Some familiar names in the band include: altoist Steve Wilson, pianist Peter Zak, trumpeters Duane Eubanks and Bill Mobley, tenor saxman Jed Levy---everyone is great!