Julian Pressley at Willingboro Library

The Jazz Bridge “Jazz at the Library” Third Thursday Neighborhood Concert Series in Willingboro, NJ presents saxophonist Julian Pressley at the Willingboro Library—220 Willingboro Way in Willingboro Township—on Thursday, May 21. Tickets are $10, $5 for students, and are available only at the door. Show time is 7:30 p.m. Information: 215-517-8337 or visit jazzbridge.org/events/neighborhood-concerts.

Veteran alto saxophonist Julian Pressley is among the last of a breed of players influenced and touched by artists like Charlie Parker, Jackie McLean, Cannonball Adderly and Sonny Stitt. He’s been active in the area’s jazz scene since the 1970s, playing with the likes of Sun Ra, Edgar Bateman, Odean Pope, The Dells, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Charles Fambrough, and a five-year stint with saxophone legend Illinois Jacquet. But it wasn’t until 1999 that this hard core swinger recorded as a leader. His hard bop CD, “Steppin’ Out,” gives listeners a good idea as to what Pressley’s playing is about. Pressley himself began playing saxophone as a student at Edgewood Junior High School, first C melody sax ad later baritone. He switched to alto when he joined the famous Florida A&M marching band in the late 1960s. Currently, he's playing weekly in the house band at the famous Minton's Playhouse in New York City—now restored—the club where bebop was born. ...

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The Jazz Bridge “Jazz at the Library” Third Thursday Neighborhood Concert Series in Willingboro, NJ presents saxophonist Julian Pressley at the Willingboro Library—220 Willingboro Way in Willingboro Township—on Thursday, May 21. Tickets are $10, $5 for students, and are available only at the door. Show time is 7:30 p.m. Information: 215-517-8337 or visit jazzbridge.org/events/neighborhood-concerts.

Veteran alto saxophonist Julian Pressley is among the last of a breed of players influenced and touched by artists like Charlie Parker, Jackie McLean, Cannonball Adderly and Sonny Stitt. He’s been active in the area’s jazz scene since the 1970s, playing with the likes of Sun Ra, Edgar Bateman, Odean Pope, The Dells, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Charles Fambrough, and a five-year stint with saxophone legend Illinois Jacquet. But it wasn’t until 1999 that this hard core swinger recorded as a leader. His hard bop CD, “Steppin’ Out,” gives listeners a good idea as to what Pressley’s playing is about. Pressley himself began playing saxophone as a student at Edgewood Junior High School, first C melody sax ad later baritone. He switched to alto when he joined the famous Florida A&M marching band in the late 1960s. Currently, he's playing weekly in the house band at the famous Minton's Playhouse in New York City—now restored—the club where bebop was born.
Regarding future recordings and projects as a leader? ``I am trying to establish my own voice as much as possible,” Pressley explains. “As long as I have been out here, I really want to do something that will define the way I play.”

Jazz Bridge, an award-winning nonprofit dedicated to assisting Greater Philadelphia Metro area jazz and blues musicians and vocalists in times of crisis, sponsors these neighborhood concerts throughout the region to keep the sound of Philadelphia alive.

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