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165

Article: Take Five With...

Take Five With Dave Schiff

by AAJ Staff
May 28, 2011

Meet Dave Schiff:Dave Schiff, a 20 year veteran of the Navy Band Jazz Ensemble “The Commodores," is a powerful and versatile woodwind jazz instrumentalist who has traveled the world working with top entertainers and jazz legends such as Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Don Menza, and Dizzy Gillespie.Smooth jazz, straight ahead, funk... you ...

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Article: Big Band Caravan

Rick Holland–Evan Dobbins Little Big Band / Empire Jazz Orchestra / Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra

by Jack Bowers
March 6, 2011

The Rick Holland--Evan Dobbins Little Big BandTrilbyRPO Productions2010 Five years after a sensational opening act (In Time's Shadow, 2006), trumpeter Rick Holland and trombonist Evan Dobbins have returned for an encore, Trilby, marshaling as before their irrepressible Little Big Band. As was noted of that earlier recording, ...

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Article: Big Band Report

These Are a Few of My Favorite....Charts

by Jack Bowers
October 1, 2010

Whenever the topic of desert islands arises among jazz fans, the focus is invariably on which albums (discs) one would choose to cram into a suitcase if one were ever stranded on an otherwise barren island. While the consideration of particular arrangements seldom governs the debate, I really think it should. After all, few albums, however ...

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Article: Big Band Report

Sonny Rollins Elected as Member of American Academy of Arts & Sciences

by Jack Bowers
May 7, 2010

This month's most welcome news has nothing to do with big bands but everything to do with artistry and excellence: saxophonist and jazz icon Sonny Rollins has been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The Academy, a center for independent policy research (I don't quite understand what that has to do ...

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Article: Big Band Caravan

Stan Kenton Alumni Band / Dave Lisik Orchestra / New Zealand School of Music Big Band

by Jack Bowers
April 5, 2010

Stan Kenton Alumni Band Have Band Will Travel Summit Records 2010 There was a time (often referred to as “the good old days") when the phrase Have Band Will Travel would have been commonplace, as popular touring bands traversed the country on an almost daily basis to brave ...

290

News: Performance / Tour

Jazzing Around L.A.

March 19, 2010

Saxist Don Menza Vibrato Bel Air Saturday Elliott Caine Quintet with Mahesh Balasooriya, piano Jax Glendale Saturday Guitarist Anthony Wilson Trio Blue Whale Saturday Vibist Nick Mancini Bleecker Street 18640 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana

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Article: Big Band Caravan

Phil Kelly and the NW Prevailing Winds; Eric Essix and the Night Flight Big Band; University of North Texas Two O'Clock Lab Band

by Jack Bowers
February 2, 2010

Phil Kelly & the Northwest Prevailing Winds Ballet of the Bouncing Beagles Origin Records 2009 The Ballet of the Bouncing Beagles, Marius Nordal writes in the liner notes to composer / arranger Phil Kelly's latest recording, “was inspired by an actual photograph of Phil's two beagles jumping up in the ...

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Article: Big Band Report

The Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra Meets Fred Sturm

by Jack Bowers
February 1, 2010

The Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra was onstage January 23, 2010 at the University of New Mexico's Woodward Hall for a concert featuring the compositions and arrangements of Fred Sturm, director of Jazz Studies at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. The concert was a part of the New Mexico All-State Band Competition, which was being held at the ...

572

Article: Big Band Report

Back in the Saddle Again...Sort Of

by Jack Bowers
January 4, 2010

After an absence of more than 45 years, your correspondent returned to the airwaves on December 15, 2009 co-hosting a three-hour program of big-band holiday music on KSFR-FM in Santa Fe, NM. I was invited to share a part of my CD library by Arlen Asher, one of New Mexico's finest jazz musicians, who has been ...

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Article: Big Band Report

Strike Up the (Unsung) Bands

by Jack Bowers
December 5, 2009

The big band era is known for producing a number of enormously successful ensembles whose leaders were household names: Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, Fletcher Henderson, then on through Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, the brothers Jimmy Dorsey and Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet, Artie Shaw, Harry James, Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie and, ...