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Javier Gonzalez
Geoff Stradling: Nimble Digits
by Jack Bowers
Remember the good old days when bandleaders would give a downbeat and their bands would start swinging and keep on doing so until their audiences literally begged for more? Welcome to the past--present tense--courtesy of pianist Geoff Stradling's superb Los Angeles-based StradBand, which swings heartily and with seldom a pause on its radiant and power-laden introductory album, Nimble Digits. Yes, the album does swing--more than thirty of the L.A. area's most accomplished musicians make sure of that--but ...
Continue ReadingMike Barone Big Band: Brazil
by Jack Bowers
Brazil doesn't signify that the venerable California-based composer / arranger Mike Barone has gone Latin; it simply means that “Brazil" is the opening number and the name Barone chose for the latest in his long-running series of remarkable big-band albums. No matter, as a Barone recording by any other name would be every inch as inspired and exciting, thanks in large measure to his unerring control of the vehicle, not to mention his invariably radiant and resourceful charts.
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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson
Blue Note
From: Nimble DigitsBy Javier Gonzalez
