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Remembrance 2025, part II: Gordon Goodwin, Al Foster, Jack DeJohnette, Hal Galper & Ray Drummond
by Larry Slater
This is the second installment of a tribute to jazz masters who left us in 2025.The composer, arranger, pianist and bandleader Gordon Goodwin lost his battle with pancreatic cancer in December of 2025, just shy of his 71st birthday. Goodwin's Big Phat Band, an 18-member ensemble consisting of some of L.A.'s finest jazz musicians, gained remarkable popularity for its combination of classic swing and contemporary jazz.The drummer Al Foster died in May 2025 at 82. Miles ...
Continue ReadingRIP Gordon Goodwin and Phil Upchurch. Classics by Bobby Timmons, Peggy Lee, and others
by David W. Daniels
Recognizing the transition of Gordon Goodwin and Phil Upchurch. Additionally, classic music from Clifford Brown, Lou Donaldson, and more. Newly released music from La Tanya Hall, Yusef Lateef, Lettuce, and others. Recognizing birthdays for McCoy Tyner, Diane Schuur, and others.Playlist Alchemy Sound Project “Divergency" from Further Explorations (Alchemysoundproject) 00:00 Clifford Brown “Get Happy" from The Complete Blue Note and Pacific Jazz Recordings (Blue Note/Pacific Jazz) 8:13 Bobby Timmons “Soul Time" from Moanin' Blues (Prestige) 13:04 Buddy Rich and ...
Continue ReadingUSAF Airmen of Note: Aim High/The 2024 Jazz Heritage Series
by Jack Bowers
Aim High, recorded as part of the 2024 Jazz Heritage Series, is the forty-sixth album by the U.S. armed services' premier jazz ensemble, the Airmen of Note, founded in 1950 to honor the tradition of Major Glenn Miller's Army Air Corps dance band, which entertained the troops during World War II until Miller's untimely death in 1944. Those who have heard no more than one of those recordings would no doubt agree that any accolades aimed at the AON have ...
Continue ReadingJeremy Cohen: Raymond Scott Reimagined
by Walter Atkins
Raymond Scott Reimagined is an engaging collaborative project with Quartet San Francisco, Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band and the Grammy winning acapella group Take 6 on two tracks. The album is a thoughtful and stylish interpretation of Raymond Scott's legacy. It is also interspersed with audio tidbits featuring Scott's singular musical approaches. The album kicks off with the enticing “Powerhouse," familiar to anyone who has watched a Warner Bros Looney Tunes cartoon. “Toy Trumpet" is a tasty composition ...
Continue ReadingGordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band: The Reset
by Jack Bowers
Gordon Goodwin's dynamic Big Phat Band rumbles back onto the scene with The Reset, a somewhat less-than-big-phat album whose dual purpose, according to Goodwin, is to express hope and gratitude in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic and to honor one of Goodwin's mentors, the late Sammy Nestico. Goodwin calls the album an EP, whose twenty-eight minute playing time places it in roughly the same ballpark as a vinyl LP from the good old days before digital recording and streaming. ...
Continue ReadingTake Five with Gordon Goodwin
by AAJ Staff
Meet Gordon Goodwin Having amassed 21 Grammy nominations, four Grammy wins and three Emmy wins, Gordon Goodwin is one of the most decorated big band leaders in the 21st century. As the leader of Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, an internationally renowned ensemble with a reputation as one of the most exciting in jazz, the BPB has released eight critically acclaimed records, including Life in the Bubble, (Telarc, 2014) which garnered four Grammy Nominations, and won the Grammy ...
Continue ReadingGordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band: Act Your Age
by Edward Blanco
Band leader, composer and instrumentalist Gordon Goodwin takes his 18-piece Big Phat Band to another level, producing a rare CD/DVD set and garnishing a heap of praise from critics and the Grammy folks alike. Act Your Age is one heck of an album, having received three 2008 Grammy nominations for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, Best Instrumental Composition (Goodwin's “Hit The Ground Running"), and Best Instrumental Arrangement (Goodwin's arrangement of “Yesterdays"). This makes for a total of 11 nominations, and ...
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