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The Miami Saxophone Quartet: Live
by Jack Bowers
This album could be called “The Miami Saxophone Quartet Plus,” as every member of the synchronous South Florida-based group doubles (and sometimes triples) on other instruments, and there are talented guest artists on three of the seven selections. Like most such groups, the MSQ is very much into rich tonal colors and intricate harmonic schemes interlaced ...
Phil Urso/Carl Saunders: Salute to Chet Baker
by Jack Bowers
Phil Urso won’t remember this, but many years ago—nearly half a century, in fact—I heard him playing in a small club in Washington, DC, and was so impressed that I approached him after the gig and said he sounded to me like Zoot Sims. I made his day then, and now I’d like to give it ...
Patti Wicks: Love Locked Out
by Jack Bowers
The term “torch singer” isn’t heard much nowadays but it’s an apt description of Patti Wicks, who sings from the heart, not the ego—and plays great piano too. She’s at her best on this album of sad-eyed ballads that, in her words, “expresses the driving force of all humanity, the need and desire to love and ...
Lee Stevens: Living a Dream
by Jack Bowers
This delightful album by Chicago-based vocalist Lee Stevens, recorded nearly ten years ago, serves as a conspicuous reminder that there are many talented artists in this vast country of ours who, through no fault of their own, are by and large unknown but would perform for an audience of one if necessary—simply because that is what ...
The John LaBarbera Big Band: On the Wild Side
by Jack Bowers
Good things, it has been said, come to those who wait. Well, we've waited a long time for John La Barbera, the middle third of the multi-talented La Barbera brothers, to record his first big-band album, and it's good. Check that; it's better than good--much closer, one might reasonably argue, to spectacular. As a composer and ...
The Doncaster Jazz Orchestra: Discover the Spirit
by Jack Bowers
For those who are unfamiliar with the Doncaster Jazz Orchestra, it’s another of those outrageously accomplished ensembles from Great Britain composed primarily of teen-agers with a handful of twenty-somethings inflating the roster. My initial response to the DJO’s third and most recent album was the same as always—there’s no way in the world musicians that young ...
The Henry Hey Trio: Watershed
by Jack Bowers
Henry Hey is a fine young pianist, and his trio works together with the precision of a Swiss watch. The problem I have with Watershed lies not with the performance but with the repertoire; all save one of the compositions are Hey’s, and none has enough allure to summon more than a temperate response. Granted, that ...
Lesley Byers & the Jazz Cats: Twisted
by Jack Bowers
Vocalist Lesley Byers and her Jazz Cats, who drew praise from this reviewer for their earlier album, A Slick Chick , are back with more heartwarming jazz from the heartland that is anything but Twisted. There have been some changes—saxophonist Doug Angelaccio is in, guitarist Zvonimir Tot out; there’s a new bassist, Jake Vinset, and not ...
The Harry Arnold Big Band: 1964/65, Vols. 1 and 2
by Jack Bowers
Big bands weren’t exactly on an upward curve—in Sweden or anywhere else—when Harry Arnold formed the Swedish Radio Studio Orchestra in 1956. Nevertheless, the band had a brief but highly successful run, appearing regularly on radio and even recording an album in the U.S. before Arnold left in 1965 to pursue other interests and the ensemble ...
This Is an Orchestra?
by Jack Bowers
As the great Stan Kenton, pointing with pride to his superlative ensemble, once declared: “This is an orchestra!” But was it? Or was it in fact a big band masquerading as an orchestra? What is an orchestra, anyway? Webster defines an orchestra as “a group of musicians including especially string players (emphasis mine) organized to perform ...
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