Jazz Articles about Carl Saunders

Carl Saunders & Pepper Adams

by Joe Dimino
November 7, 2021

From a veteran musician that represents a bridge between the old and new worlds of music, we start the 724th Episode of Neon Jazz with Carl Saunders. We also look into some stellar artists that are making 2021 a memorable year. The great Nate Smith is on top of that list with his new material, along with the likes of Caity Gyorgy, Dave Mullen and Kyle Asche. We wrap up this episode with a fundraiser for UK legend Phil Ware. ...

Carl Saunders: Jazz Trumpet

by Dan Bilawsky
June 8, 2020

Septuagenarian trumpeter Carl Saunders, whose horn served and enhanced the music of Stan Kenton, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and numerous other icons, has been a steady presence on the Summit Records imprint. Whether exploring rare Bill Holman charts or crafting a program with a patriotic shine, acting as a featured guest with the Gary Urwin Jazz Orchestra, adding some signature zest to the Phil Norman Tentet's material, or offering up his compositions for an ongoing songbook project with heavy-duty leader-participants ...

The Carl Saunders Exploration: The Lost Bill Holman Charts

by Jack Bowers
November 1, 2007

The Bill Holman charts unearthed here by the Carl Saunders Exploration weren't so much “lost as overlooked--hidden away for some two decades in a closet at the home of geologist/saxophonist Ted Richardson in Houston, Texas. On the other hand, as none of them had ever been recorded, they may accurately be described as “found.

The charts were written for Richardson's septet, which was disbanded in the mid-1980s before plans to record them could be carried out. Richardson took them home, ...

Carl Saunders: Can You Dig Being Dug?

by Jack Bowers
October 18, 2005

Somewhere in the dimly remembered past, before the scufflers were hip and everyone knew what was happenin', there were “hepcats who devised a language all their own, one in which it wasn't difficult to imagine one saying to another, “Hey, man, can you dig being dug?

That shopworn phrase, which serves as the title of trumpeter Carl Saunders' newest album, recorded live at Charlie O's in Van Nuys, California, is the only aspect of the enterprise that is in any ...

Carl Saunders: Be Bop Big Band

by AAJ Staff
November 21, 2002

Without a doubt this is the best big band to come along in many a year. The speed burners will knock your socks off, and the ballads will send romance wafting around like the sweet smell of Joy Perfume.

The sections feature the best musicians in the business; the leader, trumpet virtuoso Carl Saunders, is in a class by himself. Some beautiful Herb Phillips arrangements, aided by exquisite playing from the soloists, make this recording a true ...

Carl Saunders: Be Bop Big Band

by Jack Bowers
September 1, 2002

I'd best take care when reviewing this album by trumpet maestro Carl Saunders, as I could run short of laudatory adjectives before the appraisal has been completed. For those who are unfamiliar with his c.v., Saunders has been enriching big-band trumpet sections for more than four decades, having cut his teeth with the renowned Stan Kenton Orchestra while still a teen-ager in 1960. The pedigree is immaculate too; Carl's mother, Gail Sherwood, once sang with Kenton, and his uncle, Bobby ...

Carl Saunders: Eclecticism

by Jack Bowers
April 1, 2001

There is one unequivocal reason to acquire this album, and it can be summarized in two words: Carl Saunders. If you’ve not yet heard this unsung master of the trumpet / flugelhorn, it’s time you did. And if you’ve already been introduced I needn’t say more, as no doubt the decision has already been made to lay your hands on a copy of his second album, Eclecticism. While I can’t honestly say that I was inflamed by the decision to ...