Home » Jazz Articles » Kluvers Big Band
Jazz Articles about Kluvers Big Band
Kluvers Big Band: The Heat's On
by Jack Bowers
Chronologically speaking, The Heat’s On is the first of eight generally rewarding albums delivered to our front door in September courtesy of the affable Jens Klüver, conductor of Denmark’s admirable Klüvers Big Band. It was recorded live in July ’94 during the appropriately named “Ridehuset Swinger” concerts, a part of the Aarhus International Jazz Festival, with guests Jesper Thilo (tenor sax) and Finn Ziegler (violin). The KBB has since released seven other albums that we are appraising elsewhere according to ...
read moreKluvers Big Band: Silver Street / Tribute to Duke / Better Believe It
by Jack Bowers
A trio of albums on Music Mecca by Denmark’s world–class Klüvers Big Band, among eight we’ve now reviewed by the soon–to–be 25–year–old ensemble, and two of which — Silver Street and Tribute to Duke — stand head and shoulders above the others. The third, Better Believe It, featuring two talented Americans, trumpeter Byron Stripling and drummer Dennis Mackrel, would be in the same league were it not for the fact that Stripling wants to be a singer as well as ...
read moreKluvers Big Band: Good Times
by Jack Bowers
As one who loves big bands but is seldom excited by vocalists (Sinatra and Garland are two notable exceptions), I cringe whenever a superlative ensemble like Denmark’s Klüvers Big Band chooses to play back–up to a singer, as it does for Jesper Bjarnesen on Good Times, recorded in October ’99. Not that Bjarnesen sings poorly; he’s a fairly capable belter on the order of the guy who used to sing lead for Blood, Sweat and Tears (I know so little ...
read moreKluvers Big Band: Count on It / Live in Tivoli / Go Global
by Jack Bowers
Three more albums, these on the Inter Music label, by Denmark’s well–endowed Klüvers Big Band, on two of which ( Count on It, Live in Tivoli ) the ensemble chooses to hide its light under a bushel and play back–up to bluesy vocalists Carmen Bradford and Deborah Brown, respectively. On the third, Go Global, recorded (apparently in a studio, as there is no audience response) during the ’99 World Culture Festival in Århus, the KBB once again assumes a supporting ...
read more
Giveaway
Days remaining: 7
