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Jazz Articles about Ira B. Liss
About Ira B. Liss
Instrument: Composer / conductor
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by Joe Dimino
The heat of summer has Neon Jazz thinking about big bands and orchestras. For the 705th show on June 16, we start off with big band leader Ira B. Liss and the Big Band Jazz Machine with a cut from his 2020 release Mazel Tov Kocktail. We also hear from a sextet with Joseph Herbst off This is Our Environment. We also profile some talented cats (past and present) with solid outfits backing them up including Don Ellis, Ted Moore, ...
read moreIra B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine: Mazel Tov Kocktail!
by Jack Bowers
Any big band that has been alive and kicking for forty-two years surely deserves a Mazel Tov or two. Ira B. Liss formed his San Diego-based Big Band Jazz Machine in 1979, and it has been standing tall on the local scene ever since. Although the band puts its best foot forward at the outset on this spicy Kocktail!, producing a lively kick on guest Andrew Neu's irrepressible Gimme That," the remainder of the session is more a mixed drink, ...
read moreIra B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine: Tasty Tunes
by Jack Bowers
Tasty Tunes is the fifth CD by Ira B. Liss' stalwart San Diego-based Jazz Machine, which was formed almost forty years ago, in 1979--a span that, when reckoned in big-band years, is much closer to a century or more. While other bands have come and gone the Jazz Machine has adamantly stayed the course, presenting dynamic big-band jazz to its southern California audiences without watering down the leader's guiding principle, which is to ensure that the music is always creative ...
read moreIra B. Liss: It's About Time
by Jack Bowers
So are there any first-rate big bands worth hearing in California outside of the Los Angeles area? So happy you asked. As a matter of fact, San Diego is solidly entrenched in that position thanks to the superb Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine which, coincidentally, has recorded a spectacular new album, It's About Time. Even though the Jazz Machine is now thirty-five years old, its various working parts remain untarnished, ensuring that no mishaps or glitches arise to ...
read moreIra B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine: Everything Under the Sun
by Jack Bowers
The second release by the San Diego–based Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine is quite well–named. Perhaps an even better name would have been “everything but the kitchen sink.” The band is all over the map in a session that is evidently designed to showcase its many talents for the purpose of securing gigs. Along the way, the BBJM touches bases with Louis Prima (twice), Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Johnny Mandel, Kool & the Gang, Cole Porter, ...
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