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David Whitman: Ode To Joe
by Jack Bowers
While West Coast drummer David Whitman's Ode to Joe [Henderson] is a rather brief one at less than thirty-three minutes, it is otherwise admirable for what is enclosed within its concise parameters. Whitman leads a well-schooled septet whose makeup is freshened by rotating tenor saxophonists Bob Sheppard and Rob Lockart and guitarists Bruce Forman and Chris Montgomery. Whitman and trumpeter Andrew Neesley share composer credits, and Neesley handles the arrangements, awakening warm memories of the Golden Age ...
read moreDavid Whitman: Ode To Joe
by Richard J Salvucci
Dipping into this fine recording is, to mix metaphors a bit, like opening a time capsule. That capsule is called One For All (A&M, 1990), perhaps the final studio recording of Art Blakey with The Jazz Messengers. It was not a perfect outing, but it was a memorable one. The lines got into the head and stayed there, just waiting for a chance to be reawakened. Well, now is the time with Ode to Joe. A convenient link between the ...
read moreDave Slonaker: Convergency
by Richard J Salvucci
In December 1910, Virginia Woolf once observed, human character changed and, along with it, so did everything else. Politics, society, religion, sex, all of it, she thought, would leave the ancien regime behind. And, to a point, she was correct. Within a few years, the old world was gone, swept away by war and revolution. It was not coming back. Ever. Somehow, listening to the marvelous musical products of modern big bands, Woolf seems oddly relevant. The level ...
read moreDave Slonaker Big Band: Convergency
by Jack Bowers
While big-band albums generally differ, sometimes widely, in tone and temperament, there are definitive criteria by which every one may be evaluated--arrangements, performers, sound quality, sequencing and, above all, the elusive but imperative swing quotient. Dave Slonaker checks all those boxes and more on Convergency, a superlative successor to his excellent Grammy-nominated debut album, Intrada, released in 2013. To begin with, Slonaker, best known as a film and television composer, is an excellent big-band writer and arranger, ...
read moreDave Slonaker Big Band: Convergency
by Troy Dostert
Composer/conductor Dave Slonaker probably won't qualify as “prolific," at least based on recorded output alone, as he spends a lot of his time behind the scenes in film and television work—but one must appreciate the level of craftsmanship that he brings to his big band projects. His debut release, Intrada (Origin Records, 2014), received a well-earned Grammy nomination, and his sophomore effort is no less accomplished, with the well-designed compositions and outstanding ensemble work that justify all the attention it ...
read moreBernie Dresel: The Pugilist
by C. Michael Bailey
Jack Bowers, All About Jazz's large ensemble authority, previously considered this entire recording, The Pugilist, remarking that ..."if swing is your thing, you've come to the right place, as that is what Dresel and his elite group of sun-baked sidemen (and two women) do best and most often." One of the elements that ensures “swing" is the attentive and informed arrangement of these often sprawling pieces. Dr. Jack Cooper is known for his insightful and creative arrangements of percussion-driven music. ...
read moreThe BBB Featuring Bernie Dresel: The Pugilist
by Jack Bowers
No, drummer Bernie Dresel hasn't taken a day gig at the Los Angeles-area Better Business Bureau; the BBB in front of his name stands for Bernie's Big Band or Bernin' Big Band or Bernie's Bernin' Band or something like that. It's really hard to say, as the band's full name isn't spelled out anywhere, even on Dresel's web site or Wikipedia. Be that as it may, the important point to keep in mind is that the BBB comes out swingin' ...
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