On Friday, September 18th, the South Jersey Jazz Society presents Paul Jost’s “Springsteen Reimagined” concert at Sandi Pointe Coastal Bistro, 908 Shore Road, in Somers Point, NJ. Tickets are $20/$15 for SJJS members. For tickets, visitwww.southjerseyjazz.org or call 609-927-6677.

As part of a celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Bruce Springsteen‘s epic Born to Run album, Jost has assembled an incredible band made up of jazz artists and friends that includeJim Ridl – piano, Tony Miceli – vibraphonist, John Swana – E.V.I., Chico Huff – bass and Anwar Marshall – drums. He shared arranging responsibilities with good friend and legendary musician Barry Miles.

A New Jersey story in itself, Paul Jost, a native of the Garden State who resides in Vineland, was asked to reimagine in a jazz context the music of Born to Run, the legendary album of NJ native son Bruce Springsteen. Jost was commissioned by Michael Kline, producer of the Exit Zero International Jazz Festival in Cape May. Kline said, “When we began to think about the Springsteen project with its obvious connections to New Jersey, and how best to make clear the not so obvious connection Born to Run has to the jazz world, we began to think about an artist who could take the ideas and make it work for a festival audience. It took us about a half of a second before we selected Paul Jost.” Jost headlined the concert on May 29, 2015 at the Cape May Convention Hall and Kline was thrilled and said, “You nailed it! The band nailed it! You belong on performing arts stages everywhere. It was amazing.”

South Jersey Jazz Society’s Artistic Director, Joe Donofrio, was there and anxious to present it to his Committee. He said, “We have always been proud of Paul, a longtime member of the Society, but hearing what he did, knowing the risks, gave depth to this project, a stroke of genius, we couldn’t wait to present Paul and his Band.”

The Springsteen concert has been an exciting venture for Jost. He feels very appreciative of this opportunity and said, “I’m honored to have been tapped by Michael Kline, as the person to re-imagine the music of such an iconic artist from my native state. I love the images Springsteen paints with his lyrics and they serve as the inspiration for our reinvention of the music.” Included in the concert are such songs from the album as — “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” “Thunder Road”, “Night”, “Jungleland”, of course, “Born to Run” and many others.

The innovative Paul Jost, who is now a regular at 55 Bar, the internationally renowned jazz club in New York, and is becoming known on the international jazz scene, is a prolific arranger and composer. One of his songs, the highly acclaimed “Book Faded Brown,” has been recorded by The Band, Carl Perkins and Rick Danko and is included in his latest recording Breaking Through (Dot Time Records.) He has written over 40 CD’s for various music libraries and his music is heard daily throughout the U.S.

Jost has extended his stage credits to Europe and South Korea. This year he has performed at JazzAhead! in Bremen, Germany and at several festivals in South Korea with The Jost Project with vibraphonist Tony Miceli and bassist Kevin MacConnell. Just after his SJJS performance, he’s off to Ireland for the Limerick Jazz Festival.

Originally a drummer, over the years Jost’s musical talents extended to guitar and harmonica, but it’s his voice that truly makes him a standout. His vocals are so soulful that music critic Buster Maxwell wrote, “He nearly single-handedly reclaims the male voice as a valid and critically important jazz instrument.” Peter McLaren in Jazz in Europe wrote about his new album and said, With “Breaking Through”, Paul Jost has shown that he is a force to be reckoned with and an artist that deserves to be seen on all great festival stages worldwide.” Music Journalist Esther Berlanga-Ryan said, “Paul Jost is the very essence of Vocal Jazz today. Breaking Through is an album filled with beauty and perfection.”

For more information on Paul Jost, visit pauljostmusic.com. For more information about the South Jersey Jazz Society, visit SouthJerseyJazz.org.