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Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra: Big Band Holidays
by Jack Bowers
The holiday season has its ups and downs on Big Band Holidays, recorded live over two Decembers (2013-14) by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, which is without a doubt one of the finest big bands money can buy. Even though the most recent number on the album ("Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas") was recorded ...
The 14 Jazz Orchestra: Nothing Hard Is Ever Easy
by Jack Bowers
The 14 Jazz Orchestra, based in south Florida, is comprised of thirteen accomplished sidemen (all alumni of the University of Miami) and arranger / conductor Dan Bonsanti. On its debut recording, Nothing Hard Is Ever Easy, the ensemble cast its net wide to gather in compositions by Billy Strayhorn, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Charlie Parker, Chick ...
Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra: Joyful Jazz
by Jack Bowers
One way in which to launch an appraisal of this outstanding seasonal album, the first ever by the world-class Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra, is to check out its candid--and uncommonly accurate--title. Joyful? Most definitely. Jazz? Without a doubt. For five years, the orchestra's annual holiday celebration has been a welcome tradition for families in the greater Pittsburgh ...
Russ Lorenson: In The Holiday Spirit
by Jack Bowers
It's clear from the outset that San Francisco-based singer Russ Lorenson and the admirable Kelly Park Big Band are definitely In the Holiday Spirit on Lorenson's sparkling new CD, a few measures of which are all but certain to lend that same seasonal feeling of happiness and generosity to almost any listener. Lorenson, a clear-voiced tenor, ...
Alan Baylock Jazz Orchestra: Prime Time
by Jack Bowers
Composer / arranger Alan Baylock seems to have a penchant for time. Prime Time is the Baylock Jazz Orchestra's third album, following Two Seconds to Midnight (2003) and Eastern Standard Time (2008). This time (no pun intended), Baylock, who doubles as chief arranger for the U.S. Air Force's premier jazz ensemble, the Airmen of Note, has ...
Lou Volpe: Remembering Ol' Blue Eyes
by Jack Bowers
Ol' Blue Eyes, of course, is the late Frank Sinatra, arguably the greatest interpreter of popular American music who ever lived. Guitarist Lou Volpe (who doesn't sing) remembers Sinatra on this entertaining assortment of thirteen tunes associated with the Chairman of the Board (and leader of the Rat Pack) plus a special tribute, Europa," which closes ...
Jakob Norgren Jazz Orchestra: Pathfinding
by Jack Bowers
Although he has been a fixture on the Swedish jazz scene for some years now, Jakob Norgren is more closely associated with soul, blues, funk and R&B than with contemporary big-band jazz. That perception may change with the release of Pathfinding, the debut recording by Norgren's impressive Jazz Orchestra, on which he proves to be a ...
Bruce Lofgren's Jazz Pirates: Wind and Sand
by Jack Bowers
Batten the hatches and shiver the timbers--guitarist Bruce Lofgren's Los Angeles-based Jazz Pirates are climbing aboard with their fourth album for Night Bird Records and Lofgren's eighth as leader of his own ensemble. While these buccaneers aren't really after gold or silver (although a little of that wouldn't hurt), they do fancy that some of their ...
Dale Head: Swing, Straight Up
by Jack Bowers
Dale Head is a high-energy singer who doubles on trumpet and makes up in drive and enthusiasm for what he may lack in singularity and polish. Swing Straight Up, on which Head is backed by Rory Snyder's admirable Night Jazz Band, underlines the singer's strengths (strong voice, an abundance of self-confidence) while serving as a reminder ...
Richard Nelson / Aardvark Jazz Orchestra: Deep River
by Jack Bowers
If the name of this new CD by guitarist Richard Nelson and Boston's intrepid Aardvark Jazz Orchestra sounds familiar, that's because it is the same as a spiritual of unknown origin that has been sung for perhaps hundreds of years in churches and other venues and recorded a number of times in films, once by the ...


