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Jesse McGinty
Zhengtao Pan Jazz Orchestra: Scenery in My Story

by Jack Bowers
Zhengtao Pan, born in Shanghai, China, less than twenty-five years ago, was already well-known as a designer of video games when he chose to move to Boston, MA, to study jazz composition at the Berklee College of Music. Scenery In My Story is Pan's debut recording as leader of his Jazz Orchestra, and as its title suggests, the music is personal and thematic, tracing in solicitous terms Pan's impactful voyage from Shanghai to Boston. Intimate, yes, 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