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Mina Choi: Stories
by Jack Bowers
Who could have guessed that the next wave of world-class big-band composers and arrangers would wash ashore in the U.S. after starting its journey in faraway Asia? In 2024 alone, many composers with roots in the Far East have nourished their credentials with impressive and well- received big-band recordings. Those whose names spring to mind include Jihye Lee, Hyeseon Hong, Noel Okimoto and Zhengtao Pan, a list that has now grown by one with the addition of pianist and composer ...
Continue ReadingMark Masters Ensemble: Sam Rivers 100
by Dan McClenaghan
The Mark Masters Ensemble released Porgy and Bess Redefined! (Capri Records) in 2005. The music was taken from the George Gershwin/DuBose Heyward English-language opera, which was first performed in 1935. Masters' take on the classic was brilliantly expressed by the ensemble, who dug into his adventurous charts with freedom mixed with respect for the familiar and often-covered (most notably by the Miles Davis/Gil Evans teaming) original. It was a breakout effort for Masters. Billy Harper was there on tenor sax, ...
Continue ReadingMark Masters: Sam Rivers 100
by Jack Bowers
Sam Rivers 100 is the first of two homages recorded in 2023-24 by arranger Mark Masters and his blue chip southern California-based ensemble. This one pays tribute to the music of the late saxophonist Sam Rivers on the hundredth anniversary of his birth; the second, Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance! salutes the music of tenor saxophonist Billy Harper who is the ensemble's guest soloist on both albums. Rivers, who died in December 2011, was an early bebopper who ...
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