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Album Review

Chicago Jazz Orchestra: More Amor: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery

Read "More Amor: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 21, 2025

When the Chicago Jazz Orchestra decided to record a tribute to Wes Montgomery, the choice of who would sit in for the legendary guitarist was obvious: Bobby Broom, a stellar guitarist in his own right who has called Chicago home for more than forty years and had performed a concert version of the album at Chicago's Harold Washington Library in 2004. Once Broom agreed to accept the assignment, the sailing was relatively smooth, as CJO music director Jeff Lindberg assembled ...

Album Review

Chicago Jazz Orchestra: Burstin' Out!

Read "Burstin' Out!" reviewed by Matt Marshall

by Matt Marshall
October 2, 2013

Covering the Great American Songbook can be tricky, thankless work for a singer. The options for handling the material just aren't as numerous (i.e., nigh infinite) as they are for instrumentalists. Severely warping a melody, chopping it up or getting rid of it altogether work perfectly well if you're blowing through a horn. But such abstractions of voice can seem forced or simply too weird within a straight-ahead format. There's scatting, of course, and other forms of nonverbal vocalization, but ...