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Bob Mintzer: All L.A. Band
by Angelo Leonardi
Ascoltando questo nuovo, scintillante, album orchestrale di Bob Mintzer mi chiedevo perchè si parli così poco di questo sassofonista e bandleader ormai 64enne. Dai primi anni ottanta ha diretto formidabili big band--incidendo una ventina di album -nel solco della tradizione mainstream che va da Count Basie a Thad Jones. In veste di autore ha scritto oltre 200 arrangiamenti per orchestra. Come sassofonista è membro stabile dei Yellowjackets, ha collaborato con Mike Mainieri, Jaco Pastorius, Art Blakey, Gil Evans e decine ...
read moreBob Mintzer: All L.A. Band
by Jack Bowers
Even though saxophonist Bob Mintzer's name rests alone atop the marquee, the All L.A. Band is actually a mutual collaboration with acclaimed drummer Peter Erskine, one of Mintzer's colleagues in the Jazz Studies department at the University of Southern California. Besides occupying the drum chair, Erskine produced the album, while Mintzer composed and arranged its ten handsome themes. Among the musical styles closest to Mintzer's heart are Afro-Cuban and funk, and there is plenty of both on ...
read moreBob Mintzer: Seeing the bigger picture
by Ben Scholz
"To be a great musician one must zoom out and be a part of the big picture when playing in an ensemble. The primary focus is on the greater whole. Only by doing this does a significant band sound emerge. If people of the world could only grasp this way of looking at things, we would be much better off." --Bob Mintzer The global community is presented with an extremely myopic point of view when it comes to ...
read moreBuddy Rich: Birdland
by Glenn Astarita
There's usually a reason why previously unreleased material was never initially offered for consumer consumption, whether it's due to subpar sound quality, less than adequate material or blasé musicians' outtakes and so on. However, these tracks by the Buddy Rich Killer Force band were recorded at various venues through the years when saxophonist Alan Gauvin--who also penned the album notes --was in the band and recorded these performances for posterity and not initially intended to be sold. Gauvin doesn't recall ...
read moreBob Mintzer Big Band: Get Up!
by Jack Bowers
Even after more than three decades as a big-band leader, and with twenty well-received albums under his belt, Grammy winner Bob Mintzer keeps pushing the envelope, tweaking his recipe and exploring new ways in which to challenge himself and his sidemen while seducing the listener's ear. Known among other things for his fondness for Latin music, Mintzer has chosen instead on Get Up!, recorded live in October 2014 at Pittsburgh's Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, to plunge headlong into the pulsating realm ...
read moreBob Mintzer Big Band: Get Up!
by Dan Bilawsky
Funk and R&B are the dominant sonic strains on Get Up!--saxophonist-composer Bob Mintzer's twentieth big band release overall and his fifth for the MCG Jazz imprint. In October of 2014, Mintzer took to the stage for two nights at Pittsburgh's Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, armed with some of his grooving big band arrangements and accompanied by a group of his heavy hitter musician friends--Yellowjackets, big band mainstays, and studio greats among them. The music they made, captured here ...
read moreDewa Budjana: Joged Kahyangan
by Ian Patterson
A million-selling artist in Indonesia with pop-rock band Gigi, guitarist Dewa Budjana's solo projects informed by progressive rock, Indonesian folk and jazz fusion reveal a greater spirit of adventure. Budjana's second release of 2013 on the MoonJune label following Dawai in Paradise is similarly melodic, though differs significantly. Firstly, the word-fusion-meets-prog rock of Dawai in Paradise gives way to a more overtly contemporary jazz approach on Joged Kahyangan. Secondly, whereas the earlier release featured predominantly Indonesian musicians, Budjana harnesses heavyweight ...
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