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Katori Yoshihiko Jazz Orchestra: Riverside Music Garden
by Jack Bowers
Pianist Katori Yoshihiko is apparently one of Japan’s younger bandleaders, and the music he writes for his orchestra tends to mirror that freshly minted point of view. This takes some getting used to, but once one does, Riverside Music Garden, even with its unbecoming veneer of rock, fusion and synth, is more often than not likeable, ...
DePaul University Jazz Ensemble: Shade Street
by Jack Bowers
One of the things I admire most about contemporary college Jazz ensembles is their willingness to expand the repertoire beyond the tried–and–true standards, whether Jazz or popular, and address themselves to newer compositions, and not necessarily those whose waters are most easily navigated. On Shade Street, director Bob Lark’s impressive ensembles (1997–98) from DePaul University in ...
Max Greger and the RIAS Big Band: Swingtime
by Jack Bowers
There are times when an album’s title is remarkably descriptive, and this is one of them. This is all about swinging, with Germany’s RIAS Big Band providing the backdrop for guest soloist Max Greger, an Earl Bostic/Tiny Bradshaw/Arnett Cobb–style tenor saxophonist from the “blow hard and blow ’em away” school of straight–from–the–shoulder ad–libs. Although his name ...
United Women's Orchestra: The Blue One
by Jack Bowers
The Blue One is the debut recording by the well–schooled United Women’s Orchestra, a forward–leaning all–female ensemble from Cologne, Germany. Co–leaders Christina Fuchs (three) and Hazel Leach (four) composed and arranged all of the songs, and they shadow closely the groundbreaking endeavors of such respected contemporaries as Carla Bley and Maria Schneider. All of the musicians ...
Francine Griffin: The Song Bird
by Jack Bowers
Delmark Records waited 45 years to release its first vocal Jazz album. The singer who persuaded them to do so is Francine Griffin, a senior citizen from Cincinnati who proves on Song Bird that Delmark’s decision has considerable merit. She’s a seasoned stylist in the manner of a Shirley Horn, Betty Carter or Alberta Hunter, bending ...
Jens Wendelboe Big Crazy Energy Band: Volume 1 / Volume 2
by Jack Bowers
These releases by Norwegian trombonist Jens Wendelboe’s appropriately named Big Crazy Energy Band date from 1991–92, and they show again that while Wendelboe is an excellent Jazz composer/arranger, he is never one to take himself or the music too seriously, sprucing up his works with all manner of modern contrivances and conferring on them such highly ...
Rainer Tempel Big Band: Vorw
by Jack Bowers
Another fabulous package from Germany. Are there any big bands in Deutschland that are less than wunderbar ? If so, I’ve not yet heard them. Pianist Rainer Tempel’s Nurnberg–based ensemble is typically well–disciplined and swinging — and, if we are to judge from the photographs accompanying these albums, relatively youthful as well (Tempel himself looks to ...
Boston Promende Big Band: Walking the Big Duck / History: 64-99
by Jack Bowers
Where, I asked my wife, do you think the Boston Promenade Big Band might be from? “Massachusetts?” she replied. A splendid guess, but some few miles off the mark. Boston Promenade, which was established in 1964, is, believe it or not, based in Helsinki, Finland. Walking the Big Duck, released in 1997, is the band’s fourth ...
Michael Ray and the Cosmic Krewe: Funk If I Know
by Jack Bowers
Running short of fresh musical ideas? Well, how about a catchy album title? That should help. Oh, and throw in some outlandish photos of the leader to accentuate his “other–worldly” persona (on the order of Sun Ra), furnish the group with a similarly far–out name and make sure the songs also bear titles that are expressly ...
Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra: Yesterdays Today
by Jack Bowers
This is the ninth recording by Great Britain’s well–endowed Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra, and as is always the case, director Ian Darrington’s troops are lean, mean and ready to rumble, as one can readily hear from the first buoyant phrases of Mike Tomaro’s rollicking “Blues for Hire.” While it’s difficult to take issue with anything WYJO ...
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