Anthony Stanco: The Language and Representation of Jazz

When Anthony Stanco leaves home in the morning he represents himself, and the family he created. He represents the Sicilian family who started in this country as produce farmers. Stanco represents the city of Frazier Michigan, and the country of America as a whole. Ultimately, Jazz is the driving force that Anthony Stanco represents. The genre and his trumpet have allowed him to feed his family and travel the world.

Anthony's music career started like many. As a child in music class striving to perfect the recorder. At age ten he picked up a trumpet for the first time and took his talents to the marching band. Anthony held the marching band down as it allowed him to travel with the school and play in front of crowds. But an absolute pivot was added to Anthony's career as he discovered the Civic Jazz Orchestra. A subset of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra that granted Anthony his first taste of the Jazz life and mentorship.

This experience gave Anthony a craving to sample Jazz away from home. He packed up his horn and migrated to New York. Stanco spent two years at the Manhattan School of Music. He ultimately decided to take his talents back home to Michigan State. New York had its moments but Anthony claims Detroit's grit creates resilient artists. He needed to get back under the umbrella of tough love that inspired his career.

Anthony wielded his horn masterfully to earn his reputation in Lansing. He graduated in 2012 with his Bachelor's degree and walked right out With his Master's in 2013. Anthony dove headfirst into Michigan's jazz scene and repeated the cycle of musical mentorship down to his peers. Only for the next phase of life to take him around the world.

Anthony received his degree in May of the year. By September. His band, Anthony Stanco and the Crucial Elements. Had toured the Earth with the American Music Abroad Program. The program was funded through the State Department, specifically through the Bureau of Culture and Educational Affairs. The program allowed Anthony and his team to become official ambassadors of the country. Using their skill and knowledge of Jazz to connect with foreign nations.

As the band came home to play and record stateside. Anthony took priority in teaching what he learned. He took his first collegiate teaching position with a four-year run at Ohio State University. After Ohio State, Anthony made a pit stop as the Director of Jazz Studies at Broward College in Florida. Although thankful for the experience, the pandemic caused him to come home. Anthony is back where he started at Michigan State University. He is now working with his old mentors to nurture the Jazz Musicians of the future.

You Know The Feeling and The Crucial Elements are the albums Anthony Stanco has available on streaming platforms. He is working hard on recording another body of work. The soundtracks are booming and emotional. The albums are evident in how knowledgeable Anthony is in the language of Jazz. As he bolsters his trumpet into battle to slay the beast in front of him. Stanco was also the winner of the Winter 2024 Jazz Road grant. The money will be used to help the band's tour expenses. Anthony is going on a state-wide Summer tour. The band will be in Ann Arbor, up North, and even back down to Detroit. If you are interested in following Anthony. Please feel free to find him at http://www.anthonystanco.com. You will be able to buy merchandise, view pictures, and follow his tour dates.

Xavier Jones - Did you expect your time in the Civic Jazz Orchestra to have such an impact?

Anthony Stanco - At the time I didn't. I was already heavily invested in the instrument. I worked under the wings of Marcus Belgrave and Rodney Whitticker and fell in love with the genre, culture, and music of Jazz. I saw them and decided that I wanted to be like them. I wanted to walk the walk and talk the talk. It made me want to be serious about it very early on.

Xavier Jones - What about Jazz inspired you to lock on to it at such a young age?

Anthony Stanco - The communal aspect of it all inspired me. There was gritty camaraderie to it. We didn't start off practicing in the orchestra hall like the classical band. We rehearsed in the basement of the Matrix building. That basement felt hip! The congregation of Jazz made a hole in the wall feel like the coolest place in the world! My mentors consistently went out of their way to get me to jam at these places. There was also a sense of tough love in the space that reminded me of my family. It was hard not to lock in.

Xavier Jones - In your experience what is the difference in the Jazz scenes of New York and Detroit?

Anthony Stanco - Detroit has a realness engraved in it! The city is brutally honest but there is a certain care and quality that comes from it. It's that tough love I was raised on! In New York, they always cheer you on and tell you great job. As a young musician, you want to hear this. But that doesn't help someone whose goal is to reach the top. The guys in Detroit don't have a problem telling you that something needs work while coming from a place of love.

Xavier Jones - What is the American Music Abroad Program, and where did it take you?

Anthony Stanco - It is a very old program, at a time it was called the Jazz Ambassadors. It was started by the United States Government during the Cold War to create relationships with other countries. They sent artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brewback, and Louis Armstrong overseas to clean up America's image issue. It's developed over the years. We were sent in to teach the crucial elements of Jazz and how similar we are as people. We did seven international tours. I got a chance to go to places like South Africa, Namibia, and Indonesia.

Xavier Jones - Was there pressure to represent the United States while you were on your voyage?

Anthony Stanco - There wasn't pressure to represent the country. The heavy lifting came from carrying on the lineage of Jazz itself. I told myself as a child that I was going to graduate from music school and be the next Louis Armstrong. I did just that and followed in his footsteps. I was able to participate in the programs he excelled in and follow his inspirations. There is a picture of me in front of the Pyramids in Egypt that is emulated by him. The goal has always been to represent the legacy of the Artist who came before me.

Xavier Jones - Is there a difference between Jazz artists of the past and today's generation?

Anthony Stanco - Jazz will forever be Jazz. The difference is the musicians they got to play with! The guys from the older generation got to play with my heroes, the people who are on the records we study! One of my colleagues at Michigan State, Randy Gillespie hit the road with West Montgomery and Sonny Stitt. The older generation has access to information from the critical years of Jazz. That's a privilege that I and the younger generation don't have! I must be a vessel of that information and pass down the lineage of Jazz learning.