Big Band / Swing - CD Reviews (348)
Finnish pianist/composer Heikki Sarmanto is a legendary figure within Scandinavian progressive-jazz circles. And this 1972 big band reissue also restates his hip-ness and forward-looking proclivities amid his productions for stage and cinema. Among many rewarding factors, "Everything Is It" has not lost any steam over the years, and is an…
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Tommy Vig has created an original, strangely intuitive, and ultimately satisfying big band. This music is avant garde, and dissonance is integral to their vision. That said, Vig's pieces are about as catchy as avant garde big bands could conceivably be. Fast unison parts are balanced with clear melodies, and…
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John Daversa's arrangements and compositions incorporate a high degree of hip-ness. A superb trumpeter who maximizes his use of the Electric Valve Instrument (EVI) via rippling notes and compelling solo spots within the grand schema, he fuses hip-hop, funk, rock, and the jazz element into an uncannily coherent form-factor. Audacious,…
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Profundity, variety and a multidimensional stance are a few striking attributes of the European Movement Jazz Orchestra's portfolio. With young Slovenian musicians lending their wares, the large ensemble casts a symphonic overture amid small ensemble breakouts and Kenton-like brashness. They explore the free-zone at times during various interludes, yet the…
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Danish pianist, keyboardist, composer and arranger, Martin Lutz's third release with his own group, It's Swing – Not Rocket Science, is a collection of disparate compositions all connected by Lutz's rather uniquely slanted compositional concepts. Organized into five suites, all featuring a guest artist, the music is passive at some…
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Ever since Dexter Gordon won an Oscar for his work in Bertrand Tavernier’s ’Round Midnight, the story of American jazz musicians finding rejuvenation under European stage lights has been a mainstream one. A lot of what those musicians actually played over there, however, has been hard to find Stateside, instead…
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Like a delightful summer barbecue and the camaraderie of friends and family, renowned jazz saxophonist, Bobby Watson, actually recaptures it all on his CD The Gates BBQ Suite, featuring the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance Concert Jazz Orchestra. The CD is a tribute to the famous Gates BBQ in…
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Remember how bassist Oscar Pettiford would take huge breaths between notes while soloing? This bad brother seemingly envisioned his instrument, his…self, as a horn, so you could hear him inhale before his fingers would pluck out a low-end exhale-ation.Pettiford came to mind while listening to guitarist Tom Rizzo’s debut album,…
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Big bands haven't been mainstream for decades, but they're still with us. Alex Stewart's Making the Scene, a fascinating discussion of contemporary big-band music, lists 86 groups based in New York City alone--and Stewart says the list is incomplete. Managing a big band is difficult, and they rarely earn their…
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Big bands haven't been mainstream for decades, but they're still with us. Alex Stewart's Making the Scene, a fascinating discussion of contemporary big-band music…
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Mike Barone, big band leader, composer, arranger and trombonist, notes on the jacket of his fifth Big Band album as leader, Flight Of The Bumblebee "Rimsky-Korsakov …
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Dave Rivello wrote and arranged this session's material, and album notes by Bob Brookmeyer, a respected veteran of the big-band wars, give him immediate credibility. Riv…
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The retro-big band sound on this release gleams bright like the bumper on a '57 Chevy. So bright, in fact, that a reasonably astute listener couldn't be blamed for wonderin…
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Legendary, indeed. Renowned pianist, composer, arranger and musical director (Vikki Carr, Julie Andrews), all prior to his founding of this talented big band over three dec…
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21 Mar
The Comet’s Tail: Performing the Compositions of Michael Brecker by Chuck Owen & The Jazz Surge
On January 13th, 2007, the music world lost a genius, Michael Brecker. While with us on this planet, Mr. Brecker established the standard by which modern saxophone playi…
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Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland. That's where the 2…
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Restless Spirits may be considered a showcase for European jazz pianist and composer Roberto Magris. The maestro brings his compositions and his considerable piano t…
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One can debate whether the big bands are "dead"--and a good chunk of this CD's liner notes are devoted to that debate--but one must acknowledge that large ensembles still c…
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Composer-saxophonist-educator and Oregon born Tim O’Dell earned Bachelor’s and Doctoral degrees in music from the University of Iowa, as well as a Master’s in Music degr…
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Revered saxophonist, flutist and composer Frank Wess is a longtime member of the Count Basie Orchestra, yet leads a nonet for the first time in his storied jazz career. …
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