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The Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra: Strength in Numbers
by Jack Bowers
For the second album as leader of his jazz orchestra, New York-based Pete McGuinness says he has returned to [his] roots," fashioning a series of dapper themes that embody his forward-looking point of view while swinging in the grand tradition of such legendary ensembles as Basie, Herman, Thad Jones and others. When someone like Bill Holman ...
Bill Holman: Jive for Five
Bill Holman in the 1950s was largely a West Coast big band saxophonist and arranger. Occasionally, he broke away and led small-group recording sessions. In May and June of 1958, Bill recorded with a quintet for Hollywood's Andex Records, a Keen subsidiary founded by John and Alex Siamas in 1957. John Siamas had made his money ...
Christian Jacob: Beautiful Jazz: A Private Concert
by Dan Bilawsky
There was a time when pianist Christian Jacob thought he'd be making his mark as a classical pianist. That's perfectly understandable considering the fact that he was playing piano at age four and studying at the Metz conservatory at age six. By the time he was in college, studying at the Paris Conservatory, he was winning ...
The Bill Holman Film
The Bill Holman documentary that I helped with late last year is moving closer to reality. Its producer, Kathryn King, has launched a fund-raising drive to help her and her crew complete the filmon schedule. That is how many projects are accomplished these days when they don’t have the backing of big Hollywood investors. Few of ...
Nova Jazz Orchestra: Concerto Nova & the Jazz Music of W.A. Mathieu
by Jack Bowers
The Nova Jazz Orchestra, which was founded in the twin cities of Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN, more than two decades ago and has been on an upward curve ever since, was formally introduced to the music of W.A. Mathieu--now fondly known to members of the orchestra as Uncle Billy"--in 2011as part of the two-CD set ...
Stan Kenton Alumni Band: Road Scholars
by Jack Bowers
Road Scholars? A clever title indeed, but these gentlemen (and three ladies) are more akin to road maestros," an appraisal that is abundantly clear from A to Z on this latest recording by trumpeter Mike Vax's turbo-charged Stan Kenton Alumni Band, taped at various concerts during the band's 2013 spring tour, a two-week, three-thousand-mile odyssey that ...
L.A. Six: Frame of Mind
by Jack Bowers
Once upon a time ('way back in the 1970s-80s) there was the peerless L.A. Four (Bud Shank, Laurindo Almeida, Ray Brown, Shelly Manne) and now we have the L.A. Six, another hard-swinging post-bop ensemble that has chosen to walk in some rather large shoes by recording a splendid debut album, Frame of Mind. With Tom Peterson ...
The La Barbera Brothers: Jazz DNA
by Nicholas F. Mondello
It's an interesting phenomenon how certain families enter and distinguish themselves in this marvelous world of jazz--The Joneses, Heaths, Candolis, Royals, Breckers, Mangiones, and others. Over the last five decades--even many more if one goes farther back to when they were young children playing in the family band with Mom and Pop--the La Barbera Brothers--John, Joe ...
Stan Kenton: Road Shows
by Jack Bowers
For younger readers: yes, there was a time long ago when large groups of talented jazz musicians traveled without respite from city to city and town to town, braving one-night stands or more night after night in (mostly) sold-out concert halls, dance halls, pavilions, nightclubs, schools and other venues. They were known as big bands, so ...


