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Strike Up the (Unsung) Bands
by Jack Bowers
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, ...
Salute to Stan Kenton: Artistry in Contrast
by Jack Bowers
Artistry in Rhythm, the Ken Poston / Los Angeles Jazz Institute's 2009 homage to the renowned bandleader Stan Kenton, was held October 8-11 at the Sheraton LAX Four Points Hotel. As always, there was much to see, hear and admire: films, panel discussions, special presentations and, last but not least, no fewer than nineteen concerts by ...
Gerald Wilson Orchestra / Dallas Original Jazz Orchestra / University of North Texas Two O'Clock Lab Band
by Jack Bowers
Gerald Wilson Orchestra Detroit Mack Avenue Records 2009 Composer / arranger / ageless wonder Gerald Wilson, most of whose recent albums (Monterey Moods; New York, New Sound; Theme for Monterey; State Street Sweet) have been built around sectional themes, returns home" on Detroit to paint an earnest musical ...
Bernt Rosengren: I'm Flying
by Jack Bowers
If the name Bernt Rosengren doesn't ring a bell, it probably would if you lived in Sweden. Rosengren, an unabashed champion of such implacable hard-boppers as Gene Ammons, Hank Mobley, Dexter Gordon and Johnny Griffin, has been one of that country's leading tenor saxophonists for more than half a century, and as his latest CD affirms, ...
Rob Parton: Rob Parton Quartet
by Jack Bowers
It's always a pleasure to welcome a new CD by the remarkably talented Chicago-based trumpeter Rob Parton, even one that is untitled and places Parton in a (mostly) quartet framework. The downside is that one can't hear Parton play lead trumpet, another area in which he excels, as any perusal of his superb (albeit recently demised) ...
Deck the Halls with Big Band Carols
by Jack Bowers
With the holiday season on track and hastening toward us like a runaway locomotive, it's time once again to hunker down and prepare for the annual onslaught of Rudolph," Frosty the Snowman," I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," Sleigh Ride," Silver Bells," chestnuts roasting on an open fire and everyone's perennial favorite, White Christmas." Not to ...
Chuck Owen & the Jazz Surge / Swiss Jazz Orchestra / The Aggregation
by Jack Bowers
Chuck Owen & the Jazz Surge The Comet's Tail MAMA Records 2009 On The Comet's Tail, Chuck Owen's superb Florida-based Jazz Surge performs the compositions--yes, compositions--of the late great tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker. As Owen writes in the liner notes, [Michael's] blinding brilliance as a performer / improviser...may ...
Jack Cortner Big Band / Peter Hand Big Band / Chicago Jazz Philharmonic
by Jack Bowers
Jack Cortner Big Band Sound Check Jazzed Media 2009 For someone who waited so long before taking his first swings as leader of his own big band, Jack Cortner shows again on Sound Check, the band's second impressive recording in as many years, that he's got game. He's ...
Brett Favre Isn't The Only Comeback Kid
by Jack Bowers
The ink was barely dry on last month's report that trumpeter Rob Parton had decided to break up his superlative Chicago-based JazzTech Big Band after more than twenty years at the helm before Parton was back with a brand new ensemble, one whose purpose, he says, is to mirror that of the European Radio Orchestras where ...
David Berger Octet: I Had the Craziest Dream
by Jack Bowers
David Berger Octet I Had the Craziest Dream Such Sweet Thunder 2008 Composer / arranger / scholar / historian / educator David Berger, who uses groups of various sizes to adorn his musical framework, has chosen an octet to record I Had the Craziest Dream, subtitled The Music ...


