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The Cal State-Hayward Jazz Ensemble: Excursions
by Jack Bowers
If you’re partial to colorful and challenging big band music, you’ll surely appreciate this enterprising two-disc set by the Cal State-Hayward Jazz Ensemble, ably coached and directed by Dave Eshelman. Seven of the eleven selections were written by members of the ensemble, and one is by Eshelman. They complement Duke Pearson’s “You Know I Care,” Jim ...
Buddy DeFranco / Rolf K: The Three Sopranos
by Jack Bowers
Sopranos or pretenders, it really doesn’t matter -- there’s no need to split hairs when three of the world’s most renowned clarinetists are onstage, backed by one of Germany’s most accomplished contemporary big bands. Far better to disregard labels, loosen up and simply groove to the wonderful music produced by Messrs. Buddy DeFranco, Rolf Kühn, Eddie ...
The Dutch Jazz Orchestra: You Go to My Head: Billy Strayhorn and Standards
by Jack Bowers
The ballad component of the Great American Songbook has seldom sounded better than it does on this marvelous collaboration between the superlative Dutch Jazz Orchestra and the brilliant composer / arranger Billy Strayhorn, who wrote these exquisite charts for the Duke Ellington Orchestra over two decades beginning in the early ’40s. Eight of the arrangements are ...
Ed Wilson's Wacky Big Band: Live Featuring Jeff Duff
by Jack Bowers
Apparently, Australian trombonist Ed Wilson's big band comes in two delectable flavors, “regular" and “wacky." Having already reviewed a splendid new CD, Song for Joel, by the regular ensemble, we now turn our gaze toward the wackier group. Unlike its staid counterpart, the Wacky Big Band employs the services of a vocalist, Jeff Duff, on seven ...
Benny Goodman: The Swing Master
by Jack Bowers
Benny Goodman, a complex man who was loved by many, disliked by others and always in command, kept his music refreshingly vibrant and honest, as befit the Swing Era’s renowned King of Swing. Benny’s groups, whether large or small, were always sharp and well-rehearsed; he wouldn’t have it any other way. A life-long perfectionist, Goodman demanded ...
Harry James and His Orchestra: The Music Makers
by Jack Bowers
While the listener won’t find any crowd-pleasing hit songs on this album, he or she will be treated to more than seventy-four minutes of quite enjoyable music-making by ace trumpeter / bandleader Harry James and his orchestras (with three exceptions -- “Tuxedo Junction,” performed by a nonet, and quartet-only versions of “Sleepy Time Gal” and “The ...
The Capitol Bones Big Band: A Stan Kenton Christmas
by Jack Bowers
Here’s a generous helping of holiday cheer from the Capitol Bones Big Band that’s sure to help make anyone’s season happy and bright. Having somehow overlooked Stan Kenton’s album Merry Christmas more than forty years ago, I was delighted to learn that the DC-based Capitol Bones planned to record a new one using trumpets, mellophones and ...
Dan Barrett: Harlem 2000
by Jack Bowers
Leader Dan Barrett’s name was the only one familiar to me on this new Nagel-Heyer release (although I seem to have heard the name John Smith before). Not to worry; Barrett’s companions are as bright-eyed and wholly in tune with the nuances of his mainstream point of view as anyone could want. Apart from three songs ...
Dino Govoni: In the Library
by Jack Bowers
Young Boston-based saxophonist Dino Govoni, who has appeared as a sideman on a number of recent albums, steps forward to lead a talented quartet on In the Library, an earnest volume of engaging post-bop essays, most of them written by Govoni and his companions. The exceptions are Chick Corea’s melodious “Again and Again” and Suzanna Sifter’s ...
Ray Starling's NY Soundstage Orchestra / Joel Kaye's NY Neophonic Orchestra: Alternate Routes
by Jack Bowers
It was Stan Kenton who coined the term “neophonic” to describe the music created by his adventurous L.A.–based orchestra in the mid-’60s. He also introduced the mellophonium as part of a Jazz orchestra. This exhilarating two-disc set deftly employs and amplifies Kenton's groundbreaking concepts in splendid recordings made by two of his former sidemen, Ray Starling ...
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