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DePaul University Jazz Ensemble: Shade Street
There is a Stan Kenton influence apparent throughout. Even some of the soloists sound as if they had listened to their counterparts from Kenton's heyday of the 1950's and 1960's. Close your eyes during David Bradley's trombone solo on "Shade Street" and aural visions of Frank Rosolino appear. These young people play with confidence well-skilled in the Bop style, as well as Swing, as evidenced by the Johnny Griffin-like Jason Rigby tenor and the Kai Winding trombone of Steve Bradley on "Song for My Mother". Virtuoso playing on the difficult to keep in tune soprano sax by Jason Rigby on "From One Who Cares" is one of the highlights of the album. Leader Lark understands the need for a strong drummer to energize the other players. In this case Dana Hall is present on both sessions as he provides the fuel for the DePaul Ensemble rocket to lift off.
All in all Shade Street offers almost 60 minutes of outstanding big band music played by exemplary young performers. Recommended.
Track Listing
Eleventh Hour; Shade Street*; From One Who Cares; Song for My Mother; First Steps; One for Monterey*; Grey Matter*; I Thought about You*
Personnel
Jon Irabagon, Aaron Irwin - Alto & Soprano Sax/Flute; Jason Rigby - Tenor & Soprano Sax; Rick Merrick - Tenor Sax & Flute; Craig Denny - Baritone Sax/Bass Clarinet; Jim Lathan, Steve Bradley, Drew Pekkarinen - Trombone; Grant Miazga - Bass Trombone; Jason Aspinwall, Marques Carroll, Kevin Tague, Ben Clark, Steve Thomas - Trumpet/Flugelhorn; Dana Hall - Drums; Joel Root - Bass; Marcin Fahmy - Piano; Jon Lundbom - Guitar *Doug Angelaccio, Dave Hutten - Alto & Soprano Sax/Flute; Rob Denty - Tenor & Soprano Sax/Flute; Frank Catalano - Tenor & Soprano Sax; Matana Roberts - Baritone Sax/Bass Clarinet; Troy Anderson, David Bradley, Steve Bradley - Trombone; Grant Miazga - Bass Trombone; Jason Aspinwall, Amir El Saffar, Ross Bergseth, Vance Thompson, Mike McMannis - Trumpet/Flugelhorn; Dana Hall - Drums; Sharay Reed - Bass; Greg Smith - Piano; John Paris - Guitar
Album information
Title: Shade Street | Year Released: 2000 | Record Label: Blue Birdland Records
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