By Tom Phillips
If big bands are dead, then there's LIFE AFTER DEATH! Don't give up yet.
When JAZZNEWS Magazine folded recently (after 16 years) I was heartbroken. They carried my columns for the past 12 years, and the KK features were read nationwide (if not worldwide) which reached far more eyes than THE SOUNDS OF JAZZ radio show, on the air since 1960, reached ears.
For the past 42 years we've been dedicated to the preservation & advancement of America's ONLY true native art form, JAZZ, with particular emphasis on the big bands.
It all started in the late 1930's and 1940's, but the true roots of jazz go back even farther. Over the years jazz has evolved into 20+ varied styles. But credit must be given to the high school and college music educators for preserving the big band style and bringing new life to it. Thanks to them the big band/swing spirit remain alive and well.
There are musicians/singers who have a passion for WHAT they do, not how much $$ they make. Anyone can learn to play -- but without a natural (God-given) talent honed to perfection, the result is mechanical and without feeling. And they're not all young lions. Many seasoned musicians are still playing beautifully, but radio and TV exposure is limited.
Radio, recordings, and TV for the most part have become a cesspool of un-talented people more obsessed with making money than producing music. The pop music of today has caused many stations to go news/talk. But don't give up - the real thing is there if you know where to look. May this treatise be of some help.
What was called "swing" is making a comeback, and succeeding, but with a false sense of what it was, or is. Thanks to -- or because of -- Ken Burns (take your pick) and the youngish producers -- it's all about the dancers. The musicians are treated as a necessary evil just to play for the dancers! At the conclusion of a TV documentary on one of the big bands, the credits of 72 names of Writers, Directors, Grips, Gaffers, Manicurists, Limo Drivers, Caterers, Hairdressers, Accountants, etc ad nauseum, was one single line... "and members of the orchestra."
Hello?
That's the bad news. IS there good news? ABSOLUTELY YES. Let me tell you about one of the best.
The Chris McDonald Orchestra.
Never met him -- except on CD -- but what a thrilling, innovating, exciting, creative, goose-bump producing sound. Stumbled on this quite by accident. Several years ago, Brentwood Records sent me 2 CD's of big band arrangements of hymns, on their label. One of them called "Rock of Ages" (the Hymn, NOT the style) by the Brentwood Jazz Orchestra. Arrangements by Chris McDonald. He has since become affiliated with Green Hill Productions, (www.greenhillmusic.com)
Gathering together the best-of-the-best of musicians in the Nashville area, McDonald, the leader, trombonist and arranger, has put together a band with a fresh new approach. You won't believe your ears. They have several albums with the Big Band. Other albums with smaller groups, with the Nashville Strings with "Romantic" swing recall similar efforts of Paul Desmond, and others with strings. Denis Solee, one of the featured tenor sax (and clarinet) players, has a robust, yet gentle tone, never overbearing, or harsh, but smooth as satin and silk, weaving little boppish phrases into the most lush ballads, without being obtrusive. If the listener were not familiar with be-bop, they just think it's mellow and beautiful. But the jazz-sensitive ear discerns the controlled power and emotion that he unleashes on up tunes like FOUR BROTHERS, with the Big Band.
The band's secret is not only the competency of the players, but the creative genius of McDonald's arrangements. The players are familiar names who appear on many other albums coming out of Nashville. Trumpeter George Tidwell, basist Jim Ferguson, drummer Bob Mater are on both of Julia Rich's solo albums. Yes, the same Julia Rich, featured vocalist on the World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra directed by Larry O'Brien, with fans worldwide. Which brings up an interesting point. Larry, in my opinion, the finest director the band has ever had, constantly updates the bands book with new, more modern arrangements of other songs never recorded by Glenn. On these, he shows the skill and versatility of the players - and if you haven't caught them in person, you are missing something great.
On the original GM classics, they never experiment with the chart itself, but the soloists and rhythm section play in a more contemporary style. So it maintains the integrity of the 1939-40 style, but played with more pizzaz. Glenn would be proud, and he, too, - like Woody, Basie & Buddy Rich - would have evolved along the way. Larry has capably captured that spirit.
McDonald is not hindered by the same constraint. The opener of the BIG BAND CLASSICS CD is IN THE MOOD. Wow! His arrangement sparkles and cracks with new life, not ignoring the concept of the song, but like the Herman Herd did in later years, he raises the "out" chorus up a key, which gives it a boot you can't imagine. Key changes - in unexpected places - are his trademark. TAKE THE A TRAIN is also worked over, with a new approach to the ding-ding emphasis that's been around for so long, and it soars and roars. The band is crisp, tight, precise, but not stiff - the soloists loose and freewheeling, creating a blend like seldom heard. The section work is phenomenal, his chords and progressions are outstanding. He plumbs new depths that have never been heard before. And his creative and daring approach to explore new realms, leads to ballads, I'LL BE SEEING YOU and the Tommy Dorsey theme, I'M GETTING SENTIMENTAL OVER YOU played as gorgeous bossa-novas.
These albums will please everyone and offend no one. And for the religious community, there is even a CD of BIG BAND HYMNS - Familiar church songs in a tasteful, but swinging presentation. You have Christian Rock, Christian Country. Also Praise Choruses where the assumption is we're all too dumb to read notes, so we stand and read from words flashed on a screen. Why NOT Christian Jazz? Try it - you'll like it.
Until next time...
