Jazz Articles about Brussels Jazz Orchestra

Brussels Jazz Orchestra With Camille Bertault: Gainsbourg

by Angelo Leonardi
December 1, 2023

A più di trent'anni dalla morte, Serge Gainsbourg resta una figura particolarmente amata dal pubblico francese. La sua tomba al cimitero di Montparnasse è tra le più visitate e perennemente ricolma di fiori freschi. Nato Lucien Ginsburg da emigranti ebrei di origine turca e russa, iniziò negli anni cinquanta a esibirsi nei locali come pianista e intrattenitore, iniziando quella carriera di cantante e autore (e poi attore, regista, performer) che lo portò al successo internazionale con la canzone “Je t'aime... ...

Brussels Jazz Orchestra: Wild Beauty

by Maurizio Zerbo
February 28, 2014

Benchè candidato alla vincita di un Grammy Award, Wild Beauty, non è certo uno dei migliori CD della Brussels Jazz Orchestra. A conti fatti, i due prestigiosi ospiti non costituiscono il valore aggiunto di un progetto che naviga senza grandi colpi d'ala in un quieto mainstream. Joe Lovano è un magnifico solista, ma le sue composizioni non sembrano esaltare le qualità della migliore big-band jazz europea di oggi. L'arrangiatore Gil Goldstein è abile nell'organizzare il discorso musicale, finendo però con ...

Brussels Jazz Orchestra / Royal Flemish Philharmonic: Dangerous Liaison

by Jack Bowers
December 12, 2006

I am loath to use the word masterpiece when appraising any musical endeavor, but there is simply no better way to describe these remarkable compositions for big band and symphony orchestra by the superb Belgian composer/trumpeter Bert Joris, which together frame the definitive answer to anyone who says there's not much happening on the European jazz scene.

Joris was commissioned by the Brussels Jazz Orchestra and Royal Flemish Philharmonic to write two compositions for big band and orchestra, and they ...

Brussels Jazz Orchestra: Countermove

by Jack Bowers
December 4, 2006

The Brussels Jazz Orchestra, which has welcomed in the past such eminent composer/arrangers as Bill Holman, Maria Schneider, Kenny Werner and Phil Woods, and has played the music of noted Belgians Bert Joris and Michel Herr, turns for a second time on this new album to works by its talented artistic director/lead alto saxophonist, Frank Vaganée, whose musical expertise is undeniably comparable to those already named.

Vaganée's elaborate charts run the gamut from blues to ballads, shuffle rhythms to flat-out ...

The Brussels Jazz Orchestra: The Music of Bert Joris

by Jack Bowers
May 1, 2002

We’ve sung the praises of the Brussels Jazz Orchestra before ( The September Sessions ) but never so loudly as for this new two–disc set on which the BJO plays the music of the marvelous Belgian composer / arranger / trumpeter Bert Joris. And what music it is! Melodically rich, harmonically sophisticated, invariably bright and swinging — in short, everything one could wish from an enterprising and resourceful big–band craftsman, which Joris certainly is. His sunny compositions are so perfectly ...

Brussels Jazz Orchestra: Live

by Jack Bowers
May 1, 1999

Although Belgium doesn’t leap readily to mind when the conversation turns to hotbeds of Jazz, that country has produced a handful of outstanding Jazz musicians — Toots Thielemans, Bobby Jaspar and a few others — and boasts at least one world–class big band, the Brussels Jazz Orchestra. On Live, recorded in May ’97, the BJO performs three compositions by one of Belgium’s leading composer/arranger/players, trumpeter Bert Joris, one by saxophonist Erwin Vann and another by the orchestra’s leader/alto saxophonist, Frank ...