Interesting bit of history from the MJT Project website...
"...the MJT Project builds upon over fifty years of tradition utilizing the euphonium and tuba as lead instruments in jazz. This tradition started in the late 1940s with "the birth of the cool" and the collaboration between Miles Davis and Bill Barber on a number of recordings arranged by Gil Evans, and was extended through the 1950s by Harvey Phillips (the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, Gil Evans, etc.) and Don Butterfield (Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus and others).
By the late 1950s, bands were actually fronted by tubists such as Ray Draper (with "sideman" John Coltrane!) and Red Callender. In the late 1960s tubist Howard Johnson began his work with the Gil Evans Orchestra and with blues artist Taj Mahal, which led to the formation of the first jazz tuba ensemble, "Gravity", in 1968.
Famous jazz euphoniumist Rich Matteson, along with tubist Harvey Phillips, continued exploring ensemble possibilities through the formation of the internationally acclaimed "Matteson-Phillips TUBAJAZZ CONSORT" in the mid-1970s. The MJT Project is an outgrowth of these traditions.
Utilizing the talents of three outstanding jazz euphoniumists--Billy Huber and Barry Green of Nashville and Marcus Dickman of Jacksonville, Florida--and balancing the low end with tubists Joe Murphy and Winston Morris of Tennessee and Richard Perry of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the MJT Project explores the best in jazz tuba literature. The rhythm section personnel are all first-call Nashville-based musicians who have performed and recorded with just about everybody in the music business with Steve Willets and Kevin Madill on keys, Paul Binkley and Mel Deal on guitar, Jim Ferguson on bass and Bob Mater on drums."
"...the MJT Project builds upon over fifty years of tradition utilizing the euphonium and tuba as lead instruments in jazz. This tradition started in the late 1940s with "the birth of the cool" and the collaboration between Miles Davis and Bill Barber on a number of recordings arranged by Gil Evans, and was extended through the 1950s by Harvey Phillips (the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, Gil Evans, etc.) and Don Butterfield (Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus and others).
By the late 1950s, bands were actually fronted by tubists such as Ray Draper (with "sideman" John Coltrane!) and Red Callender. In the late 1960s tubist Howard Johnson began his work with the Gil Evans Orchestra and with blues artist Taj Mahal, which led to the formation of the first jazz tuba ensemble, "Gravity", in 1968.
Famous jazz euphoniumist Rich Matteson, along with tubist Harvey Phillips, continued exploring ensemble possibilities through the formation of the internationally acclaimed "Matteson-Phillips TUBAJAZZ CONSORT" in the mid-1970s. The MJT Project is an outgrowth of these traditions.
Utilizing the talents of three outstanding jazz euphoniumists--Billy Huber and Barry Green of Nashville and Marcus Dickman of Jacksonville, Florida--and balancing the low end with tubists Joe Murphy and Winston Morris of Tennessee and Richard Perry of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the MJT Project explores the best in jazz tuba literature. The rhythm section personnel are all first-call Nashville-based musicians who have performed and recorded with just about everybody in the music business with Steve Willets and Kevin Madill on keys, Paul Binkley and Mel Deal on guitar, Jim Ferguson on bass and Bob Mater on drums."