27 May
Skitch Henderson: Swinging With Strings by Skitch Henderson
Sunday, 27 May 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Here is Skitch Henderson appearing for the first record in years as a pianist. The former leader of the Tonight Show orchestra has always been a supporter and employer of t…
24 Apr
Pony’s Express by Pony Poindexter
Tuesday, 24 April 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
A truly star-studded, swinging band is assembled on this reissue from 1962. A great mix of standards such as Struttin' With Some Barbecue and Basin Street Blues alongside s…
22 Apr
Stephanes Tune by Stephane Grappelli
Sunday, 22 April 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Stephane Grappelli (1908-97) was - and is - one of the most loved jazz musicians ever, and his popularity extends to people who aren’t even, strictly speaking, jazz fans. M…
19 Apr
Blowin Up A Storm-The Columbia Years 1945-1947 by Woody Herman & His Orchestra
Thursday, 19 April 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
This collection secures the legacy (pardon the pun) of not only some Great American Music, Ancient To Our Future, but also a rather pivotal era in America's - and the world…
The musicians in The Greg Hopkins 16 Piece Jazz Orchestra may not be household names, but they are well traveled professionals who have experience playing with many of the …
15 Apr
Live! At Bridgewater by Midiri Brothers Septet
Sunday, 15 April 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
The Midiri Brothers are back with another swinging big band/swing CD collection and it is a delight! Recorded live at Bridgewater, New Jersey as a tribute to Benny Goodman'…
03 Apr
Swingin On West 57th Street by Johnny Varro Swing Seven
Tuesday, 03 April 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Pianist, Johnny Varro leads his Swing Seven through a fine sixteen-tune presentation. A most versatile player, Varro is equally at ease with solo stride piano, swing and Ch…
01 Apr
Sing! Sing! Sing! by New York Voices
Sunday, 01 April 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
New York Voices is a talented group that does some really fine big band/swing material in an updated fashion, full of life and joy! Their CD release, SING! SING! SING! cont…
28 Mar
Shake Those Hula Hips! by Matt Catingub's Big Kahuna and the Copa Cat Pack
Wednesday, 28 March 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
SHAKE THOSE HULA HIPS! is a delightful hoot, lots of fun, and contemporary big band/swing at its finest. Performed by Matt Catingub's Big Kahuna and the Copa Cat Pack, this…
23 Mar
Got Swing? by Dick Cary's Tuesday Night Friends
Friday, 23 March 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
When he died in 1994, Dick Cary's legacy included over 3000 arrangements for big bands and smaller ensembles and a legendary assemblage of musical pals known as Dick Cary's…
22 Mar
Hot Swing! by Mark O'Connor Trio
Thursday, 22 March 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Mark O'Connor is one of those musicians who transcend the concepts of category and genre. He's played country, classical, jazz and various fusions thereof, and played with …
14 Mar
The Very Best of Artie Shaw by Artie Shaw
Wednesday, 14 March 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Clarinetist/bandleader Artie Shaw was a musical curmudgeon long before it became (semi-) fashionable: outspoken, biting the hand that fed him and staunchly refusing to play…
08 Mar
Things Aint What They Used to Be by Johnny Hodges and Orchestra; Rex Stewart and Orchestra
Thursday, 08 March 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Things ain't the way they used to be is a CD from two of jazz greatest legends, both of whom played with Duke Ellington. This is four complete, classic small band dates wit…
Capitalizing on the recent CBS network television mini-series about the life of one of America's enduring icons, Marilyn Monroe, Playboy Jazz has released the soundtrack "B…
04 Mar
Take Me Back To Tulsa by Bob Wills
Sunday, 04 March 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Once upon a time in America, as people who know history and/or watched Ken Burns’ JAZZ doc, there weren't quite as many "barriers" between different kinds and styles of mus…
10 Feb
Raisin The Roof by Alan Vache and Jim Galloway
Saturday, 10 February 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
If there is anyone reading this review that is still hanging around the arid creek bed of neo-swing waiting for rain, check this album out instead. This is how swing music …
10 Feb
Tough Assignment: A Tribute to Davie Tough by Eddie Metz and His Gang
Saturday, 10 February 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
If Dave Tough was not "one of the greatest drummers of the swing era" (to quote the album cover), he certainly was one of the most respected and hardest working. His timeke…
09 Feb
Clark by Summit Jazz Orchestra & Clark Terry
Friday, 09 February 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
My earlier review of the Summit Jazz Orchestra's debut CD, "Moods of a Cat," suggested that much more was still to be heard from them. Well, they're back with more to hear …
09 Feb
Bach 2000 by David Matthews & The Manhattan Jazz Orchestra
Friday, 09 February 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
There's a connection between jazz and Bach. As a virtuoso organist during the Baroque period, Bach was expected to develop bass lines and improvise, using the written music…
06 Feb
The Big Head by Ballin' The Jack
Tuesday, 06 February 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
NYC-based reed whizkid Matt Darriau's mob Ballin' The Jack has done it again - that is, paying tribute to the 20s/30s works of Duke Ellington in a vibrant, slightly irrever…
06 Feb
Open For Business by John Fick Southern California Jazz Company
Tuesday, 06 February 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
This is The Southern California Jazz Company's first commercial recording. It is released by Sea Breeze Jazz, a label specializing in bag band jazz and whose catalog is hig…
04 Feb
Got Swing? by Dick Cary's Tuesday Night Friends
Sunday, 04 February 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Gil Evans. Carla Bley. Toshiko Akiyoshi. Maria Schneider. Composers and arrangers all, each with an orchestra to compose for. Ellington, the nonpareil, who held his orchest…
02 Feb
Django Reinhardt Vol. 2 Classic 1938-1939 Recordings by the Quintette Du Hot Club De France by Django Reinhardt
Friday, 02 February 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Paris, 1939. Long shadows of war started to loom over the City of Light as Europe edged toward the brink of terrible darkness. A portal to comprehending those times can be …
31 Jan
Big Band Legends: The Best of Artie Shaw by Artie Shaw
Wednesday, 31 January 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Artie Shaw is an enduring American legend in jazz music, his arrangements and performances on the clarinet are milestones in the big band era. He had a special magic with t…
26 Jan
The Very Best of Artie Shaw by Artie Shaw
Friday, 26 January 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Clarinetist/bandleader Artie Shaw was a musical curmudgeon long before it became (semi-) fashionable: outspoken, biting the hand that fed him and staunchly refusing to play…
20 Jan
Ekapa Lodumo by Abdullah Ibrahim
Saturday, 20 January 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
What might happen if one were to take that well-worn hyphenated phrase and turn its emphasis around: American-African? One of the greatest proponents of asking exactly this…
18 Jan
Lunceford Special by Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra
Thursday, 18 January 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
The Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra was one of the most popular of the Swing Era big bands, yet they seem to be somewhat less remembered than the bands of Goodman, Basie, Elling…
08 Jan
Struttin With Yoko by Yoko Noge and The Jazz Me Blues Band
Monday, 08 January 2001
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
The famed Chicago performing arts center, HotHouse, is known the world over for its eclectic and wide-ranging music programming. Monday nights at HotHouse, however, is the …
07 Sep
Hot Club Style by Alex Yellowlees
Thursday, 07 September 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Please allow me to introduce you to one of contemporary jazz's greatest swing violinists! His name: Alex Yellowlees. Where does he come from? Scotland. What is his group: T…
16 Aug
Bob Wilber and The Tuxedo Big Band by Bob Wilber
Wednesday, 16 August 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Benny Goodman biographer, Ross Firestone, classes this issue as "an event." For Goodman collectors, it certainly qualifies as such. We are offered a first chance to hear 17…
23 Jul
Moods of a Cat by Summit Jazz Orchestra
Sunday, 23 July 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
The instrumentation is conventional, but the band sure isn't. With the opener, Frank Reinshagen's arrangement of Wayne Shorter's "Black Nile", Summit proves they can serve …
15 Jul
When The Jitterbug Bites by Joe Turley
Saturday, 15 July 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
For those in the jazz audience who enjoy straight-ahead swing jazz with a touch of smokey blues, here comes Joe Turley's WHEN THE JITTERBUG BITES, a collection of 11 songs …
08 Jul
West Coast Alternative by Dan Buegeleisen
Saturday, 08 July 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Dan Buegeleisen has put together a remarkable CD collection in his new WEST COAST ALTERNATIVE. He has taken the sounds of big band and swing and brought a new, hip, updated…
04 Jul
Metropole Orkest by Netherlands Metropole Orchestra
Tuesday, 04 July 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
For those who love the sound of big band, swing, and an orchestra to carry it off with perfection, you will probably fall in love with the sounds of the Netherlands Metropo…
15 Jun
Melody In Swing by Dan Barrett
Thursday, 15 June 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
As the most recorded artist on the label, trombonist Dan Barrett returns in his 38th Arbors Jazz recording and his 10th as a leader. "Melody In Swing" features Barrett head…
13 Jun
Finger Bustin by Midiri Brothers Orchestra
Tuesday, 13 June 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
If I were to buy a CD for only one standout performance, I would buy the one that had such a classic rendition of Cole Porter's "Night and Day" on it as is the performance …
11 Jun
On The Road Live by George W. Carroll
Sunday, 11 June 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
For those who enjoy the sounds of big band and a solid, entertaining vocal to go with it, George W. Carroll's ON THE ROAD LIVE will provide many hours of repeated listening…
03 Jun
Ken Burns JAZZ by Fletcher Henderson
Saturday, 03 June 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Before there was the King Of Swing (Benny Goodman), before bandleaders ascended to royalty (Count Basie, Earl Hines, The Duke--the latter was around but didn't fully "flowe…
10 May
Blue Swing by Dan Barrett & Blue Swing featuring Rebecca Kilgore
Wednesday, 10 May 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Any new offerings by Dan Barrett are always welcome, especially when they feature the fine voice of Rebecca Kilgore. This new CD is a compilation of old and new standards a…
20 Apr
Jazz Goes To Hollywood by Lalo Schifrin
Thursday, 20 April 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
JAZZ GOES TO HOLLYWOOD features the musical compositions of legendary pianist/conductor/composer Lalo Schifrin, and all 14 selections are given a contemporary jazz setting …
10 Mar
Ken Burns JAZZ by Thelonious Monk
Friday, 10 March 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Pianist/composer Thelonious Monk was there at the birth of the jazz avant-garde of the 1940s, bebop. But Monk was something of an outsider even to those restless types-wher…
24 Feb
Basie & Beyond by Quincy Jones & Sammy Nestico Orchestra
Thursday, 24 February 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
The essence of that wonderful Basie Band was simplicity-the Count's light touch, Freddie Green's steady four/four, that relaxed swing and blues sound. Now, simplicity doesn…
15 Feb
Sophisticated Swing by Englebert Wröbel's Swing Society
Tuesday, 15 February 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
This CD by German bandleader, Englebert Wröbel is aptly titled "Sophisticated Swing" after the Mitchell Parish/ Will Hudson hit of 1937. Dan Barrett brought the band to the…
05 Feb
The Nick Contorno Orchestra with Jerry Grillo by Nick Contorno Orchestra with Jerry Grillo
Saturday, 05 February 2000
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
This CD will have a great appeal to those who enjoy jazz vocals with a solid big band feel! Every performer shines brightly on this collection of standards, and it is a hig…
24 Sep
Smile by Ed Vezinho / Jim Ward Big Band
Friday, 24 September 1999
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
The Vezinho/Ward Big Band has been thrilling audiences in and around Atlantic City since 1982 and unless I get corrected, this is the debut CD 'SMILE'. The standard has bee…
31 Jul
Dancing On A Blue Moon by Swing Legacy
Saturday, 31 July 1999
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
The aptly named Swing Legacy plays big band swing with a small band lineup, in the manner of the jump bands of the 1930's and 40's. In this case, it's a seven piece lineup,…
13 Jul
Wolf Tracks by Tom Morrell & The Time-Warp Top Hands
Tuesday, 13 July 1999
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Where is the essence of swing? cries a voice in the wilderness. "Does it reside solely in old-school cats like Ruby Braff and Bucky Pizzarelli, and is it doomed to be appro…
08 Jul
Duke Ellingtons Sound of Love by Vienna Art Orchestra
Thursday, 08 July 1999
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
After bringing a few friends to Vancouver, BC to see the Vienna Art Orchestra on their 20th anniversary highlights tour in 1997, one asked, after recovering from the non-st…
30 Jun
The Swing Club by Ray Anthony and his Big Swing Band
Wednesday, 30 June 1999
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
Born January 20, 1922, Ray Anthony is still playing trumpet and doing it in a very fine manner! His music is always alive, and projects a sense of movement, youth, and plea…
25 Jun
Anatomy of A Murder by Duke Ellington
Friday, 25 June 1999
Published in
Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews
One of the first great soundtracks composed entirely by a jazz composer, Anatomy Of A Murder (directed by Otto "Mr. Freeze" Preminger) stands as one of the highlights of Th…