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The New York All-Stars: Stompin' at the Savoy!
by Jack Bowers
Germany’s Nagel–Heyer Records, bless their hearts, keep doing their best to help keep memories of the Swing Era alive with splendid albums such as this earnest salute to Lionel Hampton by trumpeter Randy Sandke’s New York All–Stars. Stompin’ at the Savoy!, taped at a concert performance four years ago in Hamburg, is a sequel to Hey ...
The Brussels Jazz Orchestra: The Music of Bert Joris
by Jack Bowers
We’ve sung the praises of the Brussels Jazz Orchestra before ( The September Sessions ) but never so loudly as for this new two–disc set on which the BJO plays the music of the marvelous Belgian composer / arranger / trumpeter Bert Joris. And what music it is! Melodically rich, harmonically sophisticated, invariably bright and swinging ...
Harry Goldson's Caf: R.S.V.P. for Dancers Only
by Jack Bowers
Calling Harry Goldson’s ensemble an orchestra is a bit of a stretch; it’s actually an octet with vocalist Jeanne Pisano added on two numbers (“My Foolish Heart,” “I Should Care”). That’s not a knock, merely an observation, and one should hasten to add that no matter the size of the group, Goldson always flies first–class. With ...
The Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Thought Trains
by Jack Bowers
One assumes instinctively that a big–band album named Thought Trains isn’t likely to include such time–worn staples as “Moten Swing” or “One O’Clock Jump.” That’s definitely true of this one, even though it does receive a “jump start” from Mike Holober’s rhythmically vibrant composition, “Jump Down, Spin Around.” All of the compositions / arrangements are Holober’s, ...
John Jensen: Homecoming
by Jack Bowers
I’d not heard John Jensen before, and as no information about him is given in the booklet accompanying this album I can report only that he is a talented post–bop Jazz trombonist with a knack for choosing splendid accompanists. Among his contemporaries Jensen reminds me most of John Fedchock, Dan Barrett or Andy Martin; among the ...
Stefan Karlsson Trio: No Place to Go But Up
by Jack Bowers
The trick to playing Jazz versions of Kurt Weill’s theatrically imposing songs is to wrestle them assiduously to earth and make them swing. It’s a stratagem not everyone has learned. Stefan Karlsson has, an opinion that is emphatically reinforced by the pianist and his trio on No Place to Go But Up, in which the essence ...
The Great River Big Band: A Warm Breeze
by Jack Bowers
An aptly named album, as the mellow sounds of the Great River Big Band caress one’s senses like a warm breeze flowing softly from its home base in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The twenty–eight–year–old GRBB’s mission, according to the liner notes, is “to preserve and forward the big–band Jazz idiom through live performances for people of all ...
The BBC Big Band: Evidence
by Jack Bowers
The BBC Big Band is somewhat like the two–faced god Janus, showing its “hip” face to perceptive Jazz aficionados and its “square” face to those who simply want amiable background music that doesn’t require much thought. Trouble is, the record–buying public doesn’t always know which BBC band is going to show up. Another recent release, The ...
The University of North Florida Jazz Ensemble 1: Things to Come
by Jack Bowers
Things to Come, the first album by the University of North Florida’s superlative Jazz Ensemble I under its new director, Keith Javors, easily affirms that UNF’s long–standing tradition of excellence, established under the late Rich Matteson, is unequivocally alive and well. No shaky links in this chain; the ensemble is impressive on every number while the ...
Lars Gullin: In Germany 1955, 1956, and 1959, vol. 2
by Jack Bowers
Until recently I had no idea that the great Swedish baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin had recorded with any big bands, as I’d heard him only with smaller groups, usually a quartet or quintet. Then came Swedish Jazz 1952–55: The Golden Years (Caprice), on which Gullin performs with the Lulle Ellboj Orchestra, and now In Germany 1955, ...
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