The Big Four

The Big Four Quintet: Sanctified

by Jakob Baekgaard
July 24, 2009

There are few acts that sound like a grab bag of genres while having its own sound, but this is true of The Big Four Quintet (now abbreviated as TB4Q). The band's hallmark has become a curious eclecticism, bringing in styles as diverse as rock n' roll, blues, New Orleans jazz, funk, lounge, swing and world music, and cooking it all up into one steaming stew.

In that sense, the title of TB4Q's second album is highly ironic, because if ...

The Big Four: The Congregation Sessions

by Jakob Baekgaard
February 2, 2009

The idea of postmodernism has become associated with the death of history, pastiche, playfulness and the breaking down of genres as we know them. To characterize The Big Four as a postmodern R&B band would be no exaggeration.

Here is a group with five members that name themselves The Big Four and sports a musician by the name of Dr. Basie, a pianist, who has a PhD in postmodern psychiatry but decided, as stated in the liner notes: “to concentrate ...

Max Nagl, Steven Bernstein, Noel Akchote, Bradley Jones: Big Four Live on Hatology 637

Source: All About Jazz
May 21, 2007

Big Four Live: Hatology 637 Max Nagl - alto saxophone Steven Bernstein - trumpet Noel Akchote - guitar Bradley Jones - double bass In Max Nagl's varied jumble of creative activities, Big Four comes nearest to what we traditionally perceive as jazz. Formed at the suggestion of the producer Werner X. Uehlinger, who introduced him to the recordings of the original Big Four (Sidney Bechet, Muggsy Spanier, Carmen Mastren, Wellman Braud) from 1940, the ...
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