Jazz Articles

The George Gee Big Band: Settin' the Pace

by Elliott Simon
May 6, 2005

Although they're not typically household names, a strong case can be made that no single group has had more of an influence on the sound of American music than arrangers. One thing that can't be disputed though, is that the arranger is front and center when it comes to big band swing. A first-person participatory tribute to the arranging skills of Frank Foster, the latest from the George Gee Big Band, Settin' the Pace, showcases Foster's music under his own ...

George Gee Big Band: Settin' The Pace

by Jim Santella
October 2, 2004

The full-bodied big band arrangements of Frank Foster make this session swing with a lush tonality and a finger-snappin' groove. The New York ensemble that George Gee has put together tackles each standard piece with a passionate love for the art. And the timing is right. Settin' The Pace also serves as a fine tribute to what Count Basie developed and nurtured for us several decades past.

Outstanding soloists on Gee's big band session include Howard Johnson, Robert ...

The George Gee Big Band: Settin' the Pace

by Jack Bowers
September 25, 2004

George Gee, big band jazz's answer to the Energizer Bunny, just keeps going and going and going...

The diminutive New York-based dynamo leads at least two and perhaps as many as four bands. For the neo-swing crowd there's the Jump Jive and Wailers; for dancers there's the Make Believe Ballroom Orchestra; for those who lean toward the legendary Big Band Era there's the George Gee Swing Orchestra (which, when last heard from, was Swingin' in Swing City Zurich ), and ...