The Impressions in Jazz Orchestra (IJO) is Canada's first symphonic jazz orchestra. Based in Ottawa, the IJO brings together many of Canada's finest professional jazz and symphony orchestra musicians under the direction of conductor and bassist Adrian Cho. This unique ensemble has garnered widespread acclaim from both critics and audiences for its highly entertaining, innovative and educational presentations of seminal jazz-centric music. No mere "big band," the IJO is a dynamic musical organisation with a wide range of ensembles including small chamber jazz groups, repertory orchestras, neophonic orchestras and a full symphonic jazz orchestra. The IJO's broad repertoire of music includes original compositions; the gamut of jazz and pre-jazz repertory from as far back as 1850; and jazz-influenced neoclassical works. In the past the IJO has given special focus to the music of Duke Ellington, Gil Evans, Stan Kenton, Charles Mingus and Johnny Richards.

Each season, the IJO presents an exciting and innovative array of performances and educational presentations. During the summer months, the orchestra frequently performs at the invitation of event organisers including the National Capital Commission, the City of Ottawa and various festivals. The IJO is the only ensemble to ever have appeared in three of the most prestigious series at the Ottawa International Jazz Festival: the Connoisseur Series at the National Library in 2005, the Studio Series at the National Arts Center Studio in 2006, and the Great Canadian Jazz Series on the Main Stage in Confederation Park in 2008.

Adrian Cho maintains dual careers in arts and business. Originally from Sydney, Australia, he has worked in symphonic, jazz, wind band and chamber music ensembles as an arranger, bandleader, conductor and performer on piano, trumpet and double bass. Since moving to Ottawa in 2000, he has established himself as a leader of note with innovative projects featuring the city's finest artists. Doug Fischer of the Ottawa Citizen labeled him “a musical missionary” while Melanie Scott of WHERE Ottawa described him as “one of our city's most adventurous musical renaissance men.”

Dubbed “a cool guide to hot jazz” by Alex Hutchinson of the Ottawa Citizen, Adrian is a passionate educator who loves to write, speak and perform. John Kelman of All About Jazz wrote, “Cho’s intentions were clearly to educate as much as entertain, and he succeeded on both fronts.” Combining his experiences in arts with over twenty years experience in business, Adrian developed the Jazz Process, an execution-oriented framework for collaboration, innovation and agility that can help teams in any domain improve their performance. Adrian speaks and blogs regularly about high-performance teamwork and his book, The Jazz Process: Collaboration, Innovation and Agility, has been endorsed by a diverse collection of thought leaders.

Cho founded the IJO in early 2005. In an eighteen month period he led various forms of the ensemble in five concerts that were highly acclaimed for their programming, musicianship and educational content. In addition to presenting premieres of seminal jazz works, each concert gradually introduced Ottawa audiences to Cho's vision of jazz repertory performance.

In late 2006, Cho established an organisation of volunteers to support the ongoing activities of a permanent orchestra. His primary goal for the organisation was to execute with a minimum of overhead, never forgetting that it exists only to support the artistic endeavours of the orchestra.

In early 2007, the IJO was incorporated as a non-profit corporation. Its ongoing artistic mission is to preserve the rich heritage of the jazz repertory with a particular focus on seminal figures and movements in jazz history. It pursues this mission through innovative programming, audience outreach and artistic collaborations.

IJO concert programmes consistently earn high praise for their content, programming and presentation. Most programmes include rarely performed works. The IJO has presented Ottawa or Canadian premieres of many seminal jazz repertory works including the following extended suites:

• the twelve-movement Birth of the Cool nonet suite written by Johnny Carisi, Miles Davis, Gil Evans, John Lewis and Gerry Mulligan (1948-50)
• John Coltrane's five-movement Africa/Brass (1961)
• Duke Ellington's six-movement Liberian Suite (1947)
• Duke Ellington's twelve-movement Such Sweet Thunder (Shakespearean Suite) (1957)
• Gil Evan's five-movement Sketches of Spain (1960)
• Gil Evan's ten-movement Miles Ahead (1957)
• Duke Ellington's nine-movement Nutcracker Suite (1960)
• Johnny Richards' eight-movement My Fair Lady (1964)
• Duke Ellington's nine-movement Far East Suite (1964-66)
• Richard Peaslee's four-movement Chicago Concerto (1967)
• Richard Peaslee's Nightsongs (1973)
• Terry Vosbein's eight-movement nonet suite (2004)
• Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts (selections from all three concerts - 1965, 1969, 1973)

Cho's vision is to explore the many influences on jazz including socio-historic movements, literature, dance, theatre and visual art. Not surprisingly, Black History has figured strongly in many IJO presentations. Past concerts have highlighted vocal and instrumental music associated with slavery, the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights movement. The IJO frequently explores the links between classical music and jazz and has performed jazz interpretations of works by Bach, Beethoven, Grieg, Paganini and Tchaikovsky. Future concerts will explore the ways in which jazz has integrated elements of world music, and the influence of jazz on other styles of music.

The IJO aims to make its performances accessible to as many people as possible. This begins with personal contact between IJO artists and volunteers and the orchestra's supporters and concert attendees. Special emphasis is placed on presenting approachable music while challenging both the audiences and the musicians with musically and historically significant works. Our programming deliberately blurs the lines between jazz and classical music and encourages a greater appreciation of both genres while also occasionally drawing on world music influences. Classical music fans find familiarity in the format of IJO presentations. Performances are essentially all-acoustic affairs with minimal amplification and they are staged in concert halls where the nuances of the music are best appreciated. In-depth programme notes, pre-concert talks and narratives are all used to help present music in its context. The result is an experience that audiences find both entertaining and informative.

Artistic collaborations begin with the orchestra's membership, which draws from Ottawa's jazz and symphonic communities. Musicians that regularly perform in IJO ensembles include members of all the leading professional orchestras and bands in Ottawa. Some of Canada's finest jazz musicians have appeared with the IJO as guest artists including:

• trumpeter Lina Allemano (Toronto)
• pianists Holly Arsenault (Montréal), John Roney (Montréal), Richard Whiteman (Toronto)
• saxophonists Chet Doxas (Montréal) and André Leroux (Montréal)
• drummers Jim Doxas (Montréal) and Nick Fraser (Toronto)

The IJO often collaborates with artists from other disciplines and genres. To date the IJO has "cross-collaborated" with the following artists and ensembles:

• classical music (bass-baritone Marcus Nance, Ottawa Baroque Consort)
• dance (independent modern dance artists, Swing Dynamite Dance Company)
• theatre (freelance actors, Company of Fools, St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival)
• visual art (manuscript illumination artist Kathryn Finter)

These cross-disciplinary and cross-genre collaborations encourage growth and development of all artists while enabling the IJO's innovative and exciting programming.