Jazz Articles about Matt Niess

About Matt Niess

Album Review

Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra: Ellington Masterworks

Read "Ellington Masterworks" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 18, 2026

When the topic of Duke Ellington's masterworks arises (rarely, it is true, but not implausibly so), the leading candidates usually comprise such popular standards as “Sophisticated Lady," “Mood Indigo," “Prelude to a Kiss" and “Satin Doll"--not one of which is included in the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra's chronicle of Ellington Masterworks, recorded live in April 2024 at MCG Jazz in Pittsburgh, PA. With more than a thousand of Ellington's compositions from which to choose, the SJMO and its ...

Album Review

Royce Campbell/Vosbein Magee Big Band: Vagabond

by Jack Bowers
April 25, 2025

Royce Campbell has an awesome and enviable worldwide reputation--as a jazz guitarist. Who knew he could also write this well, and for a big band, no less. All but one of the eleven engaging songs on Vagabond were composed by Campbell, and every one of the impressive charts was penned by his cousin and mentor, the late Carroll DeCamp, who had done the same for Stan Kenton and Larry Elgart, among others. Campbell, who was born in ...