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H2 Big Band / Tempest Little Big Band / Deutsch Oper Berlin Big Band
by Jack Bowers
The H2 Big BandYou're It!Jazzed Media2010 Big-band album of the year? There have been a number of worthy aspirants in the first half of 2011, and now comes another strong contender: the Denver-based H2 Big Band, whose debut recording, You're It!, is a paragon of straight-ahead blowing pleasure ...
Gold Medalists Abound at Big Band Olympics
by Jack Bowers
As this is being written, Betty and I are just back from a ten-day visit to California, the first six days of which would be of absolutely no interest to readers of this column. The last four, however, were spent at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel attending the L.A. Jazz Institute's “Big Band Olympics," which ...
Are You Sure, Bobby?
by Jack Bowers
In late March, I received an e-mail from trumpeter Bobby Shew. He said he'd performed a gig in West Palm Beach, FL, and had met my brothers, whom he described as “nice guys." My first impulse was to write back and ask if he could have been mistaken. My brothers? Nice guys? Well, the fact is ...
Jazz Musician of the Day: Rob McConnell
All About Jazz is celebrating Rob McConnell's birthday today! Rob McConnellRobert Murray Gordon (Rob) McConnell is a Canadian jazz valve trombonist, composer, arranger, music educator and recording artist. Rob McConnell took up the valve trombone in high school, and began his performing career in the early 1950s... more Website ...
Let's Give Thanks for the DVD
by Jack Bowers
As there isn't much to report--well, nothing, actually--about big bands this month, I'll use the space to say a few words in praise of the DVD. Yes, I know there aren't a whole lot of jazz DVDs on the market, especially big band videos, but there are a few, and I'm grateful for every one of ...
Paul Desmond: Pure Desmond
by John Kelman
With a dry tone, and unhurried phrasing definitive of the emergent West Coast Cool--a relaxed alternative to the edgier hard bop coming from New York--alto saxophonist Paul Desmond had already made a name for himself with pianist Dave Brubeck's quartet on the legendary Time Out (Columbia, 1959). Desmond also wrote the tune that became Brubeck's signature, ...
CTI Masterworks: The Second Batch
by John Kelman
After a mighty kickoff near the end of 2010, CTI Masterworks is pushing ahead full-steam with another set of six remastered reissues, beautifully packaged in soft digipak editions. Its first batch of reissues included a tremendous, four-disc retrospective box set, CTI Records--The Cool Revolution, and an expanded, double-disc version of 1971's California Concert: The Hollywood Palladium, ...
Moody's Mood Was Always Happy
by Jack Bowers
James Moody, whose noble spirit and radiant personality were as impressive as his exploits on saxophone and flute for more than six decades, died December 9, 2010 from pancreatic cancer at his home in San Diego. He was 85 years old. To anyone who was lucky enough to meet him, the Moody hug ...
Ray Brown’s Great Big Band: Kayak
by Robert J. Robbins
Not to be confused with the late, legendary bassist of the same name, San Francisco-based bandleader/arranger Ray Brown, an ex-trumpeter with the Stan Kenton and Full Faith and Credit big bands, drives his own nineteen-piece ensemble populated by the Bay Area's A-list musicians. Brown, whose percussionist father pioneered jazz education in the public schools of Long ...
John Burnett Swing Orchestra / University of Missouri Concert Big Band / Either-Orchestra
by Jack Bowers
John Burnett Swing OrchestraDown for DoubleDelmark2010 John Burnett, an Englishman who now lives and works (as a morning host at WDCB Radio) in suburban Chicago, is a great admirer of the golden age of big bands in the U.S., which spanned roughly three decades, from the 1930s through ...
