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The Either / Orchestra: More Beautiful Than Death
by Jack Bowers
For those who appreciate big–band music that wanders from the beaten path but never far enough to exhaust one’s patience, the Massachusetts–based Either / Orchestra is designed to please. There are no shopworn standards in its book; instead, the E / O takes the listener on a bracing musical journey from North American Jazz / blues ...
The University of Texas Jazz Orchestra: Sixth Floor Jazz
by Jack Bowers
This is the second recording I’ve heard by the UT Jazz Orchestra. The first, Loose Ends, encompassed a five–year period during which UT’s Jazz Studies program housed a number of remarkable players including saxophonists Jeff Benedict and Charlie Richard, trumpeters Steve Hawk and Tom Tallman, trombonist Gary Smith, guitarist Dave Burdick and drummer Roger Schupp. Sixth ...
Big Bands on Radio 1933-52: The Music of Harold Arlen
by Jack Bowers
As one would envision from an anthology spanning a twenty–year period that preceded the advent of modern recording techniques and apparatus, sound quality varies widely on these radio air–checks from 1933 (Benny Goodman / Jack Teagarden, “I Got a Right to Sing the Blues”) to 1955 (the Dorsey brothers, “Let’s Fall in Love”). Of the sixteen ...
The Jim Widner Big Band: "Rides Again" Live
by Jack Bowers
I first stumbled across bassist Jim Widner’s all–star big band about three years ago, and what a fortunate mishap that was. Rides Again, the band’s third recording and first in front of an audience (at Drury College in Springfield, MO), is as breathtaking as the previous two, and they were nothing short of spectacular. This is ...
The Big Time Jazz Orchestra: BTJO
by Jack Bowers
If a big–band album has no title or liner notes, one must presume that the ensemble and its music speak for themselves — and although the Big Time Jazz Orchestra from wintry Fargo, ND / Moorhead, MN, hasn’t yet acquired a consistently persuasive voice, it does have some agreeable statements to make on its debut recording. ...
The Lars Samuelson Orchestra: Het Sommar
by Jack Bowers
I was familiar with Lars Samuelson as the driving force behind Four Leaf Clover Records but wasn’t aware that he was also a big–band leader until this reissue from 1975–81 arrived unannounced in the mail a couple of weeks ago. It was a pleasure to learn about this previously unknown aspect of Lars’s musical persona, as ...
The Cal State Hayward Jazz Ensemble '98-'99: Metro
by Jack Bowers
The Cal State Hayward Jazz Ensemble has earned many laurels in recent years, but director Dave Eshelman won’t let his bright–eyed students rest long on any of them. Metro, the CSUH ensemble’s most recent album, is a typically challenging amalgam of original compositions by Eshelman and others (including three by the ensemble’s gifted pianist, Ayn Inserto) ...
The Reno Jazz Orchestra: Orchestra 2000
by Jack Bowers
The members of the three–year–old Reno Jazz Orchestra cut their musical teeth in casino house orchestras backing every leading star from Presley to Pavarotti, and many of them have logged road time with such name–brand ensembles as Herman, Kenton, Basie, Rich and others. Co–leader Jack Caudill calls the RJO’s middle–of–the–road repertoire “night club–type” big band music. ...
The Fullerton College Jazz Ensembles: Piranha
by Jack Bowers
Saying a piranha is combative is somewhat like observing that the late Vince Lombardi was rather fond of winning. The newest release by Fullerton College’s Jazz Ensemble 1 and Alternative Jazz Lab Ensemble is exceedingly well–named, as both groups are ready to rumble from the outset and breathe fire throughout a galvanizing session comprised entirely of ...
The Stockholm Jazz Orchestra & Jim McNeely: Sound Bites
by Jack Bowers
As a partisan of straight–ahead big–band Jazz, I approach cautiously any album encompassing Jim McNeely’s music, as I can never be sure before listening which of the two McNeelys may show up, the laid–back moderate or the wild–eyed extremist. Happily, Sound Bites, recorded with the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra in ’95 and featuring on four tracks McNeely’s ...
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