Big Bands
May 2009 By Perry Tannenbaum
West of State Street/East of Harlem
Delmark Records
Chicago bandleader/broadcaster John Burnett has switched labels on his second album in the past eight years, but the sound and personnel are very much as they were on his Swingin’ in the Windy City CD in 2000, reminiscent of the Basie Band and its contemporaries...
May 2009 By Perry Tannenbaum
Where or When
Owl Records
Trombonist Brent Wallarab is a truly wondrous arranger, and together with trumpet/flugelhorn ace Mark Buselli, he co-leads a 12-piece band that wraps itself around each of his charts with luscious liquefaction. The B-W bandstand is also graced with half...
May 2009 By Perry Tannenbaum
Quake
Sunnyside
Beatles, Stones and originals get the big band treatment
May 2009 By Perry Tannenbaum
Road Band ‘67
Tantara Productions
A lustrous ‘60s relic sees the light of day
May 2009 By Perry Tannenbaum
One for Maynard
Loud
Pump up the volume! This debut CD packs enough brassy testosterone to heat up your subwoofer, thump your floorboards, scatter your pets and cause neighbors or idle passersby to gnash their teeth. Bandleader Joe Murphy has plenty bravado, exhorting band directors...
May 2009 By Perry Tannenbaum
Saxolollapalooza
Cacophony
If the Loudhorns are poised to go without sax, then reed fanatic Frank Macchia is willing to kiss his brass goodbye to achieve his muscular Saxolollapalooza sound. The project began in 1990 after Macchia bought himself a bass saxophone and had the notion...
May 2009 By Perry Tannenbaum
South Florida Jazz Orchestra
MAMA Records
Directed by bassist Chuck Bergeron, SFJO is already keeping some swanky company on its debut CD, including cameos by Arturo Sandoval, Ed Calle, Charles Pillow and Kevin Mahogany. Not at all surprising when you consider that the band was incubated at Arturo’s...
January/February 2008 By Harvey Siders
Jazz, Baby!
Origin Records
How young is too young when it comes to exposing your youngsters to jazz? According to the producers of this album, a Bay Area couple with a one-year-old daughter, and the arranger, Doug Beavers Rovira, apparently if you can play or sing nursery rhymes to...
January/February 2008 By Harvey Siders
Thinking of Gene
Sea Breeze
Leaders of ghost bands are literally haunted by past sounds. Fans, steeped in nostalgia, expect to hear Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, etc., come alive with arrangements, and sometimes solos, intact. Don’t count on the leader of today’s Gene Krupa...
