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Rich Willey: Down & Dirty
Back in 2001, trumpeter/composer/educator Rich Willey released a critically acclaimed album titled Gone with the Piggies (CAP Records). As a result, a savvy audience has followed him cult-like ever since. With Down and Dirty, the former Maynard Ferguson standout delivers a bacchanalia presentation both as player and composer, surrounded by a unit of Los Angeles' finest players and world- class arrangers. There are marvelously diverse big band grooves here that Willey and his jazz merchants are selling. ...
read moreRich Willey's Boptism Big Band: Down & Dirty
What's in a name? While that maxim remains a matter for debate, don't let this particular name mislead you. In the parlance of trumpeter Rich Willey's Los Angeles-based Boptism Big Band, Down & Dirty translates into well-scrubbed & swinging. There's really no better way to describe the performance of eleven of Willey's wide-ranging compositions and one standard ("Old Folks") by an ensemble comprising many of southern California's foremost jazz musicians who not only master but amplify superlative charts by Gordon ...
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