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Article: Big Band Report

In Tune or Not in Tune... That Is the Question

by Jack Bowers
April 2, 2013

Suppose a month goes by, you have a column to publish, but nothing has happened that's worth writing about. What do you do then? Read on, as the question is about to be answered. A while back there was a discussion at a Stan Kenton web site (Kentonia) about musicians or groups of ...

Article: Big Band Report

Did Stan Kenton Swing? You Bet Your Walkin' Shoes He Did...

by Jack Bowers
November 16, 2012

I've been listening to a lot of Stan Kenton's music recently while coming to grips with the age-old question, did the Kenton orchestra really swing? The answer, to me, is a no-brainer: Yes, Kenton swung. Liberally and often. [Note: This of course depends on how “swinging" is defined; opinions may vary]. In his own way--although he'd ...

Article: Big Band Report

Marching to a Jazz Tempo

by Jack Bowers
April 5, 2012

March came in like a lion in Albuquerque with no less than four blue-chip jazz concerts in the first five days, three of which I attended, passing on the first (the Charlie Christian Project featuring guitarist Michael Anthony and trumpeter Bobby Shew at The Outpost Performance Space) because Betty and I had seen basically the same ...

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Article: Big Band Caravan

Stan Kenton-UW Eau Claire / Kirk MacDonald Orchestra / Kansas City Jazz Orchestra

by Jack Bowers
April 5, 2012

Stan Kenton Orchestra/UW-Eau Claire Jazz Ensemble 1Double Feature, Vol. 3Tantara Productions2012 Volume 3 in Tantara's ongoing two-CD series of Double Features, encompassing heretofore unissued music by the Stan Kenton Orchestra and guests, covers parts of five Kenton concerts spanning the years 1971-77 on Disc 1, and presents ...

Article: Big Band Caravan

Skelton Skinner All Stars / Clare Fischer Big Band / Ron Carter's Great Big Band

by Jack Bowers
February 10, 2012

Skelton Skinner Allstars Big BandCookin' with the Lid OnDiving Duck Records2012 Back in the late 1950s, vibraphonist Terry Gibbs (with some help from his friends) put together an ensemble that became known as the Terry Gibbs Dream Band, took up residence in Hollywood and began blowing audiences ...

Article: Big Band Report

SuperSax Me

by Jack Bowers
January 13, 2012

Back in the early 1970s bassist Buddy Clark and saxophonist Med Flory conceived a brilliant idea: to form a group (primarily a reed section with rhythm) that would use orchestrated arrangements of saxophonist Charlie Parker's transcendent bop solos as the basis for its music. As for a name, nothing less than SuperSax would suffice. The nine-piece ...

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Article: Big Band Caravan

Cecilia Coleman Big Band / Phil Norman Tentet / UNT One O'Clock Lab Band

by Jack Bowers
December 1, 2011

Cecilia Coleman Big BandOh Boy!PandaKat Records2011 Among the many pleasant surprises on Oh Boy!, pianist Cecilia Coleman's maiden voyage as leader of her own big band, perhaps the most eye-opening is that the band had been together for only eight months when the album was recorded by ...

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Article: Big Band Report

"Modern Sounds," or: Running a Marathon in Full Body Armor

by Jack Bowers
November 8, 2011

From October 19-25 Betty and I were at the Los Angeles Marriott Airport Hotel to attend Modern Sounds, the L.A. Jazz Institute's four-day salute to West Coast jazz, followed by a day-long tribute to Stan Kenton on the hundredth anniversary of the legendary bandleader's birth. We arrived a day early to be primed and ready for ...

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Article: Take Five With...

Take Five With Tommy Vig

by AAJ Staff
October 24, 2011

Meet Tommy Vig: Born to a musical family in Budapest, Tommy Vig was internationally recognized as a child prodigy by the age of six, playing drums with his father, clarinetist Gyorgy Vig. His sense of improvisation, rhythm and energy at that young age made him unique, and he performed live concerts on radio, at ...

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News: Video / DVD

Weekend Extra: Bill Perkins

June 26, 2011

Bill Perkins (1924-2003) was the archetype of the creative musician incapable of letting his style freeze in place. To borrow the phrase coined by his initial inspiration Lester Young, Perkins refused to be a “repeater pencil." He was with Stan Getz, Gene Ammons, Zoot Sims, Richie Kamuca, Al Cohn, Don Lanphere andmany others in a generation ...