Having come under the tutelage of Art Blakey (a.k.a. Buhaina, or “Bu” for short), drummer Ralph Peterson knows a thing or two about the value … Read More “Ralph Peterson’s GenNext Big Band: I Remember Bu: Alive Vol. 4 @ Scullers Featuring Donald Harrison (Onyx) “
Here’s proof that less can be more, with a range as broad as a full-blown big band yet retaining the subtleties and expanded solos of … Read More “University of Toronto 12tet: When Day Slips Into Night (U of T Jazz)”
Brazilian big-band music is relatively rare, at least in comparison with its Afro-Cuban and—obviously—swing kin. With Encontros – Orquestra Atlantica, pianist and composer Antonio Adolfo … Read More “Antonio Adolfo: Encontros – Orquestra Atlantica (AAM)”
The big Orrin Evans news of the past year has, undoubtedly, been the pianist’s induction into the Bad Plus following the decision of that trio’s … Read More “Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band: Presence (Smoke Sessions)”
Drummer Bobby Sanabria was born in the South Bronx in 1957, the same year West Side Story opened on Broadway. As a native New Yorker … Read More “Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band: West Side Story Reimagined (Jazzheads)”
Holy bebop, Batman! Jeff Rupert, director of the University of Central Florida Flying Horse Big Band, decided to turn the school’s premier student ensemble loose … Read More “UCF Flying Horse Big Band: The Bat Swings (Flying Horse)”
In retrospect it’s easy to hear the evolution from Miles Davis’ mid-’60s albums to In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and On the Corner. Still, … Read More “Charles Pillow Large Ensemble: Electric Miles (MAMA)”
This Oklahoma State University big-band project is an intense collaboration with trombonist Michael Dease, whose straight-ahead sound and bubbling font of musical ideas can bring … Read More “OSU Jazz Orchestra: Solid Gold (OSU Jazz Studies)”
Es:sensual is not the Cuban-born pianist-composer Omar Sosa’s first meetup with Germany’s NDR Bigband or the Brazilian multi-tasker Jaques Morelenbaum. In 2010, the same three … Read More “Omar Sosa & NDR Bigband: Es:sensual (Otá)”
Dafnis Prieto has always been one to think big in his music, but this is the first time he’s opted to actually go big. For … Read More “Dafnis Prieto Big Band: Back to the Sunset (Dafnison)”
