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229

Article: Album Review

Mark Colby: Reflections

Read "Reflections" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 12, 2009

Reflections, the eighth CD as leader or co-leader by one of the Chicago area's most undervalued treasures, tenor saxophonist Mark Colby, is a tribute, he writes, to “the things that shaped and moved me when I was just a kid," as well as to friends, family and artists who nourished his growth and served as a ...

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Article: Album Review

Miami Saxophone Quartet: Fourtified

Read "Fourtified" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 11, 2009

Before even blowing a note, the Miami Saxophone Quartet has earned bonus points by doing something other such groups would be wise to emulate: it has added a rhythm section (at least on three of Fourtified's nine tracks). There's even a second quartet--viola, cello, two violins--on the aptly named three-movement “Jazz Suite for Double Quartet," Latin ...

304

Article: Album Review

Stan Getz: Legacy

by Jack Bowers
August 10, 2009

Here's a pleasant surprise: “previously unissued material" by tenor sax giant Stan Getz that by and large deserves to be more widely disseminated and heard. Legacy is comprised of five sessions spanning the years 1980-86, including three numbers with the Woody Herman Herd and another with Getz and pianist Jimmy Rowles performing Rowles' “The Peacocks." The ...

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Article: Big Band Report

Jacksonville: Big City, Big Band, Big Plans

by Jack Bowers
August 5, 2009

Almost everyone who's even mildly interested knows that the big band scene in the US isn't what it used to be. On the other hand, the big bands aren't yet dead, as some alarmists have claimed, or even on life support. Thanks in part to college and armed services programs, there are perhaps as many or ...

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Article: Big Band Caravan

Bob Florence Limited Edition / Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band / Dana Legg Stage Band / John Burnett Swing Orchestra

by Jack Bowers
August 3, 2009

Bob Florence Limited Edition Legendary MAMA 2009 “Legendary" is a word that is often misused and shamelessly over-used, and in this case entirely appropriate. Even though composer / arranger / pianist Bob Florence is no longer with us, and wasn't in the studio when his Limited Edition recorded ...

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Article: Big Band Caravan

Resonance Big Band / Sammy Nestico-SWR Big Band / Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra / Alf Clausen Jazz Orchestra

by Jack Bowers
July 10, 2009

Resonance Big Band Plays Tribute to Oscar Peterson Resonance Records 2009 First things first: there will never be another Oscar Peterson. Period. Even so, there are others who come remarkably close to retracing his legendary footsteps. Fellow Canadian Oliver Jones is one, Romanian-born Marian Petrescu another. It is ...

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Article: Big Band Report

Jack Nimitz: Baritone-in-Chief

by Jack Bowers
July 1, 2009

Baritone saxophonist Jack Nimitz died June 10, 2009 at his home in Studio City, California. He was 79 years old. That's hardly headline news except to a relative handful of jazz enthusiasts who were privileged to hear and appreciate his consummate artistry over the span of more than half a century when Nimitz was at the ...

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Article: Big Band Caravan

Jason Hainsworth Big Band / DePaul University Jazz Ensemble / Big Band Ritmo Sinfonica Citta di Verona / Howard University Jazz Ensemble

by Jack Bowers
June 10, 2009

Jason Hainsworth Jazz Orchestra Kaleidoscope DW Jazz 2009 On his first turn at bat, composer / arranger / tenor saxophonist Jason Hainsworth has not only slammed one out of the park with Kaleidoscope but has produced a viable entrant in the big-band Record of the Year sweepstakes. The ...

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Article: Big Band Report

"A Swingin' Affair" Outshines Its Name

by Jack Bowers
June 8, 2009

With an appreciative bow and genial tip of the hat to the late Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra, the Los Angeles Jazz Institute named its semi-annual big-band soiree May 21-24 at the Sheraton LAX Four Points Hotel “A Swingin' Affair." Was the event able to live up to its name? In the immortal words of ...

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Article: Big Band Caravan

Mike Vax Big Band / Dave Siebels / Phil Woods / London Horn Sound

by Jack Bowers
May 4, 2009

Mike Vax Big Band Sounds from the Road Summit Records 2009 As Bob Hope and Bing Crosby entertained millions with their “road" movies in the 1940s, so the Mike Vax Big Band has its own “road show," arguably as entertaining but playing to much smaller audiences than Hope ...