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Article: Big Band Report

From Charlie Christian to Charlie Parker

by Jack Bowers
September 4, 2012

It's not often one has a chance to see and hear a dozen of New Mexico's premier jazz musicians together onstage (or almost so) for a single concert, but that is what took place August 11 as an overflow audience welcomed the Charlie Christian Project and SuperSax New Mexico to the Albuquerque Museum of Art and ...

Article: Big Band Caravan

Budman-Levy Orchestra / Jens Wendelboe Big Band / DiMartino-Osland Jazz Orchestra

by Jack Bowers
August 7, 2012

Budman / Levy OrchestraFrom There to HereOA2 Records2012 If this splendid album, recorded two years ago (2010), is in any way emblematic of what lies ahead, the long-range outlook for big band jazz is indeed bright and auspicious. Saxophonist Alex Budman and trombonist Jeremy Levy have assembled ...

Article: Big Band Report

Ladder Is High, Women Keep Climbing

by Jack Bowers
August 5, 2012

Unlike college sports, there is no Title IX program for women in jazz. Those who wish to pursue that line of endeavor have to elbow their way into what remains essentially a male-dominated profession (or art) and keep climbing the ladder one rung at a time. True, women have made notable inroads in recent years and ...

Article: Big Band Report

June Means Jazz as Festivals Flourish

by Jack Bowers
July 12, 2012

June, as always, is a harbinger of exciting things to come as the jazz festival season springs forth in earnest, causing even the most ardent couch potatoes to bestir themselves and start perusing the calendar to locate interesting events in their neck of the woods. Here in New Mexico, the “outdoor" season comes to life with ...

Article: Big Band Caravan

James Morrison / Tall & Small / Millennium Jazz Orchestra

by Jack Bowers
July 12, 2012

James MorrisonSnappy TooMorrison Records2012 The first question that arises about Snappy Too, the latest mind-blowing enterprise by Aussie James Morrison, is how is it to be filed: under “big band" or “duo"? The fact is, the album is both, as the personnel consists of Jeff Hamilton on ...

Article: Big Band Caravan

Darmstadter Big Band / Alon Yavnai–NDR Big Band / Red Bank Jazz Orchestra

by Jack Bowers
June 6, 2012

Dartstadter Big BandKentomaniaSelf Published2010 Of all the recorded tributes to the legendary Stan Kenton released during the centennial of his birth (2011), the Darmstadter Big Band's Kentomania (it's spelled that way on the jacket cover and disc) is unequaled for one reason alone: it has former Kenton ...

Article: Big Band Report

Caution: Brief Column Ahead...

by Jack Bowers
June 4, 2012

This may be one of the shortest columns I've written in fourteen-plus years at All About Jazz. The fact is, not much has happened this month in our little corner of big band jazz, and there is almost nothing to report. About all we can do is look forward to events on the horizon: Jazz Under ...

Article: Album Review

The Susan Krebs Band: Everything Must Change

Read "Everything Must Change" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 3, 2012

Appraising a jazz singer, male or female, is never easy; there are so many variables to consider. First, of course, is the voice, which must be lucid and pleasing to the ears. Respect for a lyric is important, as is articulation, which is bound closely to emotion; too little can be seen as tedious, too much ...

Article: Album Review

Eric Alexander / Vincent Herring: Friendly Fire

Read "Friendly Fire" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 2, 2012

For those who long for the time when hard bop reigned supreme, Blue Note and Prestige Records were riding high, and no-holds-barred saxophone cutting contests and unscripted jam sessions were the order of the day, here's a sure cure for any lament that those days are lost and gone forever. From the opening notes of Friendly ...

Article: Big Band Caravan

Bob Lark Alumni Band / Bob Curnow / JazzMN Big Band

by Jack Bowers
May 8, 2012

Bob Lark and His Alumni Big BandReunionJazzed Media2012 As director for more than two decades of DePaul University's superb Jazz Ensemble, trumpeter Bob Lark has seen an endless parade of outstanding musicians pass through the ranks, which makes the first-ever Reunion of his Alumni Big Band a ...