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Kitt Lyles: Real Talk
by Jack Bowers
Real Talk is the debut album for young South Carolina-bred bassist Kitt Lyles who earned a degree in Jazz Studies from Northwestern University in 2013. As all the compositions are Lyles,' its success rests as much on his skills as a writer as his serving as a beacon for the sextet's able rhythm section. How does ...
Swiss Jazz Orchestra: Pools: Live at Jazzfestival Bern
by Jack Bowers
As if a new CD by the superlative Swiss Jazz Orchestra weren't enough to start New Year 2016 on a high note, Pools presses home the considerable talents of the orchestra's special guests, vibraphonist Mike Mainieri and drummer Peter Erskine, in a dynamic performance taped live at the Hotel Innere Enge on April 10-11, 2015, as ...
Clark Gibson + Orchestra: Bird with Strings: The Lost Arrangements
by Jack Bowers
The story behind Bird with Strings: The Lost Arrangements is a long one and far too elaborate to dwell on here. Suffice to say that a handful of these arrangements for alto saxophone and small string orchestra, written originally for the incomparable Charlie Parker, have been heard before (albeit by rather small audiences) while most of ...
Jeff Coffin with Caleb Chapman's Crescent Super Band: The Inside of the Outside
by Jack Bowers
The first time woodwind artist Jeff Coffin heard Caleb Chapman's Crescent Super Band, he was greatly impressed--so much so that he decided to record an album with the band. You may be impressed too, especially upon learning that the Super Band, which sounds for all the world like a professional (or advanced university) ensemble, is actually ...
Michael Kocour: Spiffy
by Jack Bowers
Spiffy is the third album as leader this year (2015) for pianist Michael Kocour who has chosen the occasion to set aside the piano in favor of a Hammond B3 organ. It proves to be an auspicious choice, as does his decision to work as part of a quartet. Kocour's sidemen (saxophonist Eric Schneider, guitarist Bruce ...
Tom Matta Big Band: Standards
by Jack Bowers
What's in a name? After all, a big-band jazz album by any other name would sound the same. On the other hand, it should be pointed out that as the versatile Tom Matta has chosen the name Standards to define his second album as leader of the Chicago-based Tom Matta Big Band, only three of the ...
Valery Ponomarev Jazz Big Band: Our Father Who Art Blakey
by Jack Bowers
Who is Russian-born trumpeter Valery Ponomarev's favorite musician? A clue may be found in the title of Ponomarev's first CD as leader of his New York City-based big band: Our Father Who Art Blakey. The first jazz recording he heard while still in Russia, Ponomarev recalls, was Blakey's Jazz Messengers with trumpeter Lee Morgan playing pianist ...
UNT One O'Clock Lab Band: Lab 2015
by Jack Bowers
Jay Saunders, director of the University of North Texas' flagship ensemble, the One O'Clock Lab Band, sums up the group's latest recording, Lab 2015, in one concise and canny sentence: “Sometimes it's best just to let the band play what they want to play." With that in mind, Saunders writes in the album's liner notes, he ...
UMO Jazz Orchestra with Michael Brecker: Live in Helsinki 1995
by Jack Bowers
If your fondness for big-band jazz includes searching for hidden treasures, here's a recently uncovered gem that should more than gladden your spirit: a concert recording from 1995 by Finland's superb UMO Jazz Orchestra featuring the renowned tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker who left us far too soon a dozen years later at age fifty-seven. The impeccably ...
Larry Dickson Jazz Quartet: Second Springtime
by Jack Bowers
On Second Springtime, baritone saxophonist Larry Dickson, a mainstay for more than three decades with Cincinnati's renowned Blue Wisp Big Band, leads a quartet sans piano, much like Gerry Mulligan's groundbreaking ensemble from the early '50s. Unlike Mulligan's storied quartet, however, Dickson shares the front line not with a trumpeter (Chet Baker) but a tenor saxophonist ...
