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Sandvika Storband
Sandvika Storband: Live at B
by Jack Bowers
Even though the Sandvika Storband (big band) is tucked away in an enclave near Norway's capital, Oslo, far removed from the antennae of most listeners outside northern Europe, you'd have to travel the world over to find a more proficient ensemble. As I wrote when reviewing Sandvika's album Greenhouse - Live at Smuget six years ago, add a couple of French horns and you've got the Boss Brass, not an inapt comparison by any measure, and as true today as ...
read moreSandvika Storband: Lining Up!
by Jack Bowers
This is the second superlative recording we’ve heard in the last two months by Norway’s world–class Sandvika Storband (the other, Greenhouse—Live at Smuget, was reviewed in May). This time around, the band has some help (not that it needs any) from three acclaimed guest artists, two from the UK (trombonist/composer Mark Nightingale, vocalist Claire Martin), the other from the US (tenor saxophonist/composer Don Menza). Nightingale unleashes his awesome Carl Fontana–like chops on his mid–tempo charmer, “In the Clear,” his inventive ...
read moreSandvika Storband: Greenhouse -- Live at Smuget
by Jack Bowers
Far from being “dead,” as some have seen fit to pronounce them, big bands are alive and flourishing in countries all over the world — and in every country there are one or two names that set the standard for excellence. In Norway, that name is Sandvika. I’ll tell you how good these guys are. Add a couple of French horns and you’ve got the Boss Brass. On Live at Smuget, recorded at an Oslo nightclub in May ’96, Sandvika ...
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