Results for "Paul Heller"

Paul Heller

Chuck Owen: Renderings

by Pierre Giroux
August 23, 2023

Renderings by Chuck Owen and The WDR Big Band is a remarkable jazz album that showcases the artist's mastery as a composer, arranger and bandleader. This release stands as a testament to Owen's innovative approach to jazz music blending traditional elements with modern influences to create a unique and captivating sonic experience. ...

Chuck Owen and the WDR Big Band: Renderings

by Jack Bowers
August 1, 2023

Anyone who uses YouTube to search for contemporary jazz must surely be familiar with Germany's blue-ribbon WDR Big Band, as it is abundantly represented at the site. Bearing that in mind, it may come as no surprise to those seekers (and others) that the WDR's latest recording, on which it is paired with the esteemed Florida-based ...

Steve Gadd, Eddie Gomez, Ronnie Cuber, WDR Big Band: Center Stage

by Jack Bowers
November 22, 2022

Mixed emotions must underline this review. Center Stage, featuring bassist Eddie Gomez, drummer Steve Gadd and baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber with Germany's superb WDR Big Band conducted by Michael Abene, was recorded in Cologne in January and February 2022. Sadly, Ronnie Cuber passed away in October, shortly after the album was released. If ...

Hendrik Meurkens and the WDR Big Band: Samba Jazz Odyssey

by Jack Bowers
October 16, 2022

One could probably count the number of big-band albums featuring a harmonica player on the fingers of one hand and leave some unused. Only one other springs to mind here, and it was released so many years ago that the names have long since been forgotten. And so it is indeed a genuine pleasure to hear ...

Soundscapes

By Bob Mintzer

Label: MCG Jazz
Released: 2021
Track listing: A Reprieve; The Conversation; Stay Up; Montuno; Whack; Canyon Winds; Herky Jerky; New Look; One Music; VM.

Bob Mintzer & WDR Big Band Cologne: Soundscapes

by Jack Bowers
August 3, 2021

Saxophonist Bob Mintzer, a New Yorker who left home long ago to see the world, is a professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music and chief conductor of the world-class WDR Big Band in Cologne, Germany, with whom he has recorded Soundscapes, a luminous showcase for his singular talents ...

Blue Soul

By Dave Stryker

Label: Strikezone Records
Released: 2020
Track listing: Trouble Man; Aha; What’s Going On; Came to Believe; Blues Strut; When Doves Cry; Wichita Lineman; Shadowboxing; Stan’s Shuffle.

Michel Herr: Positive: Music For Sextet And String Quartet

by Ian Patterson
July 12, 2020

Although perhaps best known as a jazz pianist who has worked with the likes of Archie Shepp, Bill Frisell, Philip Catherine, Joe Lovano, Zbigniew Seifert and Toots Thielemans, Michel Herr has long enjoyed a parallel career as a conductor / musical director, and as an arranger for cinema, television and radio productions. It is in these ...

Dave Stryker with Bob Mintzer and the WDR Big Band: Blue Soul

by Jack Bowers
May 17, 2020

Bob Mintzer had an idea. The renowned tenor saxophonist, who serves as principal conductor of Cologne, Germany's world-class WDR Big Band, had made several appearances as guest artist with guitarist Dave Stryker's New York-based organ trio and was so impressed that he thought it would be a good idea to re-orchestrate some of Stryker's music for ...