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Vince Norman / Joe McCarthy Big Band: Words Cannot Express
by Jack Bowers
While listening to the Norman/McCarthy Big Band's remarkable debut album, Words Cannot Express, one's thoughts are drawn inescapably toward another enormously impressive ensemble, the Mark Taylor/Steve Fidyk Big Band--and for a number of sound reasons. Not only are both bands based in the Washington, DC area, both are co-led by a drummer (McCarthy, Fidyk), boast a ...
Jump City Jazz Orchestra: Live at Chris' Jazz Cafe
by Jack Bowers
The subtitle of this trim and engaging album by the Philadelphia-based Jump City Jazz Orchestra is “A Tribute to Maynard Ferguson, and seven of its eighteen selections are from the Ferguson band's library including one of the late high-note maestro's most crowd-pleasing showcases, “Danny Boy, admirably performed here by guest trumpeter Matt Gallagher. Also from the ...
Stan Kenton: Cool Hot & Swingin'
by Jack Bowers
Cool Hot & Swingin', the seventh in an ongoing series of Stan Kenton treasures unearthed by Bill Lichtenauer's ever-resourceful Tantara Productions, recaps a splendid concert performance in February 1956 at the Civic Auditorium in San Bernardino, CA. This was a time when Kenton had pared the trombone and reed sections to four members each and added ...
Wayne Bergeron: Plays Well with Others
by Jack Bowers
The “report card on trumpeter Wayne Bergeron is accurate--he definitely Plays Well with Others. While that alone would be enough to endorse Bergeron's second album as leader of his own big band, it is only one aspect of a superlative studio date on which the “others include a number of the Los Angeles area's busiest and ...
Mike Suter and Slidewerke: The Geezer Strikes!
by Jack Bowers
The “geezer herein is bass trombonist Mike Suter, who had been thinking about recording this album for years and decided to turn thought into action when he glanced in the mirror one recent morning and “some old dude was lookin' back at me. Ready or not, Slidewerke's time had arrived. Though Suter didn't exactly strike while ...
Sonny LaRosa and the World's Youngest Jazz Band: 28th Anniversary
by Jack Bowers
Nearly thirty years ago, trumpeter Sonny LaRosa, a transplanted New Yorker living in Florida, decided to use some of his spare time to do something productive. Gathering around him a handful of young wannabe musicians, the former professional trumpeter established America's Youngest Jazz Band, which has been growing in size and talent ever since. The band, ...
Jim Kerl's Swing Session Big Band: With Thanks to My Friends
by Jack Bowers
To the average listener, there are basically three kinds of big bands: those that are as good as advertised, those that aren't, and those that are much better than expected. Trumpeter Jim Kerl's Swing Session Big Band definitely belongs in the last category. The reasons are clear. First, the musicianship on the band's inaugural album, With ...
RIP Buddy Childers
by Jack Bowers
His given name was Marion, but to friends, family and admirers around the world Marion Childers was known simply as Buddy--entirely appropriate, as Buddy Childers was a friend to everyone he met. When Buddy was twelve years old, to keep a trumpet that was given to his father by his mother but lay unused in a ...
Steve Huffsteter Big Band: Live at Cafe 322
by Jack Bowers
The cat has been released from the bag. Trumpeter Steve Huffsteter's big band, for years a well-kept secret beyond its home base in Southern California, has at last introduced itself to the rest of the country (and the world) via Live at Café 322 (in Sierra Madre). Huffsteter, who long ago validated his credentials as one ...
Howard University Jazz Ensemble: Here's to Life!
by Jack Bowers
Every year, almost like clockwork, director Fred Irby III sends me a copy of the Howard University Jazz Ensemble's latest recording, and I am always pleased and happy to be reminded that an undergraduate big band of this caliber resides and plays in my hometown (as a boy growing up in Washington, DC, I lived within ...
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