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Jazz Articles about Dave Richards

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Album Review

The Scott Whitfield Jazz Orchestra West: Postcards from Hollywood

Read "Postcards from Hollywood" reviewed by Jack Bowers


While many people have been excited or enraptured by the music scores accompanying Hollywood's most beloved films, few know (or perhaps even care) who wrote them. That's a shame, as these composers (and their contemporaries) were musical trailblazers whose names should be enshrined forever in the annals of artistic brilliance. One who does care is composer/arranger Scott Whitfield who has dedicated the latest album by his Jazz Orchestra West, Postcards from Hollywood, to their remarkable (and too-often overlooked) legacy.

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Album Review

Bernie Dresel: The Pugilist

Read "The Pugilist" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Jack Bowers, All About Jazz's large ensemble authority, previously considered this entire recording, The Pugilist, remarking that ..."if swing is your thing, you've come to the right place, as that is what Dresel and his elite group of sun-baked sidemen (and two women) do best and most often." One of the elements that ensures “swing" is the attentive and informed arrangement of these often sprawling pieces. Dr. Jack Cooper is known for his insightful and creative arrangements of percussion-driven music. ...

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Album Review

The BBB Featuring Bernie Dresel: The Pugilist

Read "The Pugilist" reviewed by Jack Bowers


No, drummer Bernie Dresel hasn't taken a day gig at the Los Angeles-area Better Business Bureau; the BBB in front of his name stands for Bernie's Big Band or Bernin' Big Band or Bernie's Bernin' Band or something like that. It's really hard to say, as the band's full name isn't spelled out anywhere, even on Dresel's web site or Wikipedia. Be that as it may, the important point to keep in mind is that the BBB comes out swingin' ...

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Album Review

The Steve Spiegl Big Band: The L.A. Sessions at Capitol Studios

Read "The L.A. Sessions at Capitol Studios" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Almost every Monday morning for the past fifty years, composer-arranger Steve Spiegl convened his Los Angeles-based big band for a rehearsal session, assembling, for most of that time, at the Musicians Union in Hollywood and, more recently, at its new home in Burbank. When Spiegl decided in 2019 to pull up stakes and move northward to Oregon, which meant bidding a melancholy goodbye to the band and its weekly rehearsals, it marked the end of an era—but not without one ...

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Album Review

Mike Barone Big Band: Brazil

Read "Brazil" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Brazil doesn't signify that the venerable California-based composer / arranger Mike Barone has gone Latin; it simply means that “Brazil" is the opening number and the name Barone chose for the latest in his long-running series of remarkable big-band albums. No matter, as a Barone recording by any other name would be every inch as inspired and exciting, thanks in large measure to his unerring control of the vehicle, not to mention his invariably radiant and resourceful charts.

Album Review

Greg Wall’s Later Prophets: Ha’ Orot

Read "Ha’ Orot" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff


Avraam Izchak HaCohen Kook (Abraham Isaac Kook), dopo essere stato rabbino capo a Jaffa e Gerusalemme, fu il primo rabbino capo askenazita in Eretz Israel durante il mandato britannico in Palestina, dove si era trasferito nel 1904 dalla nativa Lettonia, per partecipare alla costruzione del futuro stato di Israele. Eccezionale uomo di cultura, profondo studioso della Torah, sionista religioso (egli fu fra i principali ispiratori di un movimento come Hardal, che fa da trait d'union fra l'ortodossia ebraica e il ...


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