Big Band Caravan
Albert–Hobbs Big Band / Jeff Hamilton–DePaul University Jazz Ensemble / Steve Taylor Big Band
by Jack Bowers
Dave Albert--Brian Hobbs Big Band Love Remembered Eidolon Records 2012 What a bold and unusual idea, opening a big-band album with a waltz performed by a trio. The Albert-Hobbs Big Band does exactly that with For Mr. C," one of several dedications on its debut recording, Love Remembered. Once it becomes clear that the ensemble is missing in action and won't be heard from before Track 2, the change of pace ...
read moreR3: Special Big Band / Gull Lake Jazz Orchestra / Empire Jazz Orchestra
by Jack Bowers
R3: Special Big BandR3Summit Records2012 The R3" in this Brazilian-based band's name refers to brothers Rafael, Renato and Roger Rocha who together comprise its heart and soul. The Special" pertains to just about everything else on this impressive debut album. Indeed, there could be even more R's" in the title, as the pianist is Flavio Rocha (presumably another sibling), Robson Rodrigues plays electric bass and Joabe Reis trombone. But those three R's ...
read moreBob Mintzer Big Band / Bob Wilber and the Tuxedo Big Band / Joe Chambers Moving Pictures Orchestra
by Jack Bowers
Bob Mintzer Big BandFor the MomentMCG Jazz2012 Anyone who has followed Bob Mintzer's career knows that the multi-talented saxophonist / educator has always had a special place in his heart for music from south of the border (he even recorded a big-band album, Latin from Manhattan, back in 1998). While perhaps best known as a member of the Yellowjackets, Mintzer has overseen his own big-band since 1983 (when he was asked by ...
read moreKris Berg & the Metroplexity Big Band / Michael Treni Big Band / Millennium Jazz Orchestra
by Jack Bowers
Kris Berg & the Metroplexity Big BandThis Time / Last YearMAMA Records2012 Until now, bassist / educator Kris Berg, who oversees the Jazz Studies program at Collin College near Dallas, TX, has been widely known and respected as someone who writes and arranges songs for others to play. From now on, he'll doubtless be known and respected as leader of his own world-class ensemble, the Metroplexity Big Band, whose debut recording, This ...
read moreBudman-Levy Orchestra / Jens Wendelboe Big Band / DiMartino-Osland Jazz Orchestra
by Jack Bowers
Budman / Levy OrchestraFrom There to HereOA2 Records2012 If this splendid album, recorded two years ago (2010), is in any way emblematic of what lies ahead, the long-range outlook for big band jazz is indeed bright and auspicious. Saxophonist Alex Budman and trombonist Jeremy Levy have assembled a group of A-list musicians from the Los Angeles area who glide easily through Levy's elaborate compositions and arrangements with nary a lapse nor ...
read moreJames Morrison / Tall & Small / Millennium Jazz Orchestra
by Jack Bowers
James MorrisonSnappy TooMorrison Records2012 The first question that arises about Snappy Too, the latest mind-blowing enterprise by Aussie James Morrison, is how is it to be filed: under big band" or duo"? The fact is, the album is both, as the personnel consists of Jeff Hamilton on drums and Morrison on everything else, from brass to reeds, bass to piano, even guitar, bass trumpet and banjo. That's no misprint. Morrison, the ...
read moreDarmstadter Big Band / Alon Yavnai–NDR Big Band / Red Bank Jazz Orchestra
by Jack Bowers
Dartstadter Big BandKentomaniaSelf Published2010 Of all the recorded tributes to the legendary Stan Kenton released during the centennial of his birth (2011), the Darmstadter Big Band's Kentomania (it's spelled that way on the jacket cover and disc) is unequaled for one reason alone: it has former Kenton standout Herb Geller as a soloist, the others do not. Geller, now in his eighty-third year, is as sly as a fox and spry ...
read moreBob Lark Alumni Band / Bob Curnow / JazzMN Big Band
by Jack Bowers
Bob Lark and His Alumni Big BandReunionJazzed Media2012 As director for more than two decades of DePaul University's superb Jazz Ensemble, trumpeter Bob Lark has seen an endless parade of outstanding musicians pass through the ranks, which makes the first-ever Reunion of his Alumni Big Band a more than special occasion. Simply convening these eminent graduates in a recording studio for two red-letter days must have been a Herculean task, as ...
read moreStan Kenton-UW Eau Claire / Kirk MacDonald Orchestra / Kansas City Jazz Orchestra
by Jack Bowers
Stan Kenton Orchestra/UW-Eau Claire Jazz Ensemble 1Double Feature, Vol. 3Tantara Productions2012 Volume 3 in Tantara's ongoing two-CD series of Double Features, encompassing heretofore unissued music by the Stan Kenton Orchestra and guests, covers parts of five Kenton concerts spanning the years 1971-77 on Disc 1, and presents a dozen never-recorded charts by Dee Barton, Bill Fritz, Joe Coccia, Hank Levy, Willie Maiden and Ken Hanna, performed by the University of Wisconsin-Eau ...
read moreNova Jazz Orchestra / Christian McBride Big Band / NYJO
by Jack Bowers
Nova Contemporary Jazz OrchestraWho Sez You Can't Dance to Bebop?Nova Jazz2010 When last heard from, Minnesota's dauntless Nova Jazz Orchestra was performing alongside the legendary Stan Kenton Orchestra--well, not actually alongside," but as part of the Tantara label's ongoing two-disc salute to Kenton, Double Feature, Vol. 2. On that occasion, Nova was playing (and playing quite well) music written for but never recorded by the Kenton Orchestra, whereas on its eighth ...
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