Out February 6, 2026 via Acoustical Concepts, Easter Island Suite features Vanore’s unique ensemble Abstract Truth exploring the mystery and beauty of the island and its monumental statues
“John Vanore is Philadelphia’s greatest big band leader and also its best-kept secret.” – Jerry Gordon, WPRB-FM, Princeton
“The intriguing trumpeter pushes expressive possibilities in the realm of big band culture, armed with a progressive attitude, yet also with clear roots in tradition and timeless musical values.” – Josef Woodard, DownBeat
The towering and enigmatic stone sculptures that have become synonymous with Easter Island were likely carved over a span of centuries. Easter Island Suite, the new album of music penned by trumpeter and composer John Vanore under the massive figures’ inspiration, didn’t take quite so long to come to fruition. But by jazz album standards, the album’s nearly 40-year gestation period still seems monumental.
Fortunately, that decades-long journey has paid off in the most majestic and sweeping release to date from the Philadelphia-area composer and his long-running ensemble Abstract Truth. Set for release on February 6, 2026 from Vanore’s own Acoustical Concepts label, Easter Island Suite is a cinematic four-part suite that explores the landscape, culture and mystery of a locale that has fascinated and puzzled outsiders since European explorers first reached its shores on Easter Sunday of 1722.
It was on another Easter Sunday, more than 260 years later in 1984, that Vanore began writing his suite. “I was home alone,” Vanore recalls, “so I started to wonder, ‘What’s the loneliest place on Earth?’ And I immediately thought of Easter Island.”
Vanore had long been intrigued by the small island off the coast of Chile, by the nearly 1,000 monolithic figures, or moai, that ring its coastline, and by the Rapa Nui people who created them. Soon his random musing had led him to the piano, where he devised the theme for French horn and droning bowed bass that initiates the first movement, “Discovery.” Five years later, that movement was recorded for Abstract Truth’s 1990 debut album, Blue Route, under the title “Easter Island.” The track listing gave no indication that it was part of a larger work, but by the end of the ‘80s Vanore had written all four movements and orchestrated all but the last.
In the mid-1990s Abstract Truth entered a 14-year hiatus during which Vanore concentrated on producing and session work. He relaunched the band in 2009 and has since released a series of acclaimed albums, always intending to fully realize the Easter Island Suite. The second and third movements were recorded in 2012, but it took until now – more than four decades since the idea first struck – for the composer’s full vision to finally be realized.
Despite recording dates that stretch over 35 years, there is a remarkable cohesion to the Easter Island Suite, which compels listeners through its unfurling portrait of an awe-inspiring landscape. Remarkably, several members of Abstract Truth have remained in the band throughout that history. Alto saxophonist and flutist Michael Mee plays an integral role on the album from beginning to end, while bassist Craig Thomas lays a vigorous foundation on all four movements. Pianist Ron Thomas bookends the suite on movements one and four, while saxophonist/bass clarinetist Bob Howell and guitarist Greg Kettinger have all been onboard since the 2012 session.
“The whole idea was to take you to the island,” Vanore explains about the structure of the piece. While he has never taken the daunting trek himself, the composer paints a vivid picture from his extensive research. The dawning urgency of “Discovery” is meant to evoke the sensation of washing up on the island’s shore and being faced for the first time with its imposing human monuments. “The piece continues as you make your way into the island as night falls and you’re left in the dark. The tenor saxophone represents discovering the statues – the immensity and the mystery.”
The sense of mystery is a thread that runs through the whole suite, and is one of the elements that has held Vanore in its thrall all these years. “It’s still never been solved,” he marvels. “Every time there’s been a breakthrough and somebody posits an explanation for how the statues were made or how they were moved,somebody else discovers information that defeats that premise. Where there’s mystery, there’s always tension, and I tried to capture that element of the unknown.”
The suite continues with “Gods & Devils,” a depiction of the island’s spiritual culture in which the trumpet takes on the role of a god while the tenor saxophone is given the more diabolic side in the dichotomy. Against the tenor’s insinuating temptations, the trumpet begins a defiant chant soon joined in by the full population. The tenuous beginning of “Secret Caves” – short, probing, inquisitive statements by Brian Landrus’ bass clarinet, Kettinger’s guitar and Craig Thomas’ bass – begin a spelunking exploration into the island’s underground caverns. The mysteries yielded by these shadowy hiding places are revealed by the combination of Mee’s flute and Thomas’ shimmering waterphone. The final movement, “Rano Raraku,” is named for the volcanic crater whose stone was quarried to create the Easter Island moai. Vanore describes the site as, “beautiful, haunting and serene.”
“Beautiful, haunting and serene” also serves as an apt description of the music that Vanore has crafted, nurturing his passion for the island, its culture and its mysteries over four decades. With Easter Island Suite that dedication brings vibrant life to a new soundtrack for this endlessly fascinating and breathtaking place.
photo by J Paul Simeone
John Vanore
Trumpeter, composer, educator, record producer – John Vanore has enjoyed a rich career for more than four decades. Vanore grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs and dedicated himself to music after attending a summer program directed by Oliver Nelson at the Indiana University. He studied with famed teacher Dennis Sandole and joined the legendary Woody Herman band after college. Upon returning to Philadelphia, he became a mainstay in the trumpet sections for visiting performers including Tony Bennett, Michel LeGrand, Mel Tormé, Louis Bellson, Peggy Lee and many others. During this time Vanore became the Director of Music at Widener University, developing an intensive Jazz Ensemble program specializing in non-majors that produced twelve recordings. In the 1980s Vanore formed his 12-member large ensemble Abstract Truth, whose early albums led to opportunities producing records for EMI, Atlantic, PBS, Miramax and many others. Since relaunching in 2009, Abstract Truth has released several recordings, including Contagious Words, Culture and Stolen Moments – Celebrating Oliver Nelson, which has received critical acclaim and international recognition.
# # #
John Vanore and Abstract Truth – Easter Island Suite
Acoustical Concepts – AC-160 – Recorded Oct. 1989, June 27-28, 2012 and June 19, 2024
Release date February 6, 2026