Jazz Articles about Joe Elefante

The Joe Elefante Big Band: Vanity Fair

by Jack Bowers
February 7, 2005

Pianist/composer Joe Elefante's New York City-based big band has been quite favorably received by the local media, and now we can hear why--well-built ensemble, impressive soloists, splendid arrangements by Elefante, who assembled all the charts on the band's debut album, Vanity Fair, and wrote everything save Ray Noble's “The Touch of Your Lips."

“Lips," usually played as a ballad, is an arresting example of Elefante's innovative approach, as the tempo is accelerated and the familiar melody bracketed by free-form exchanges ...