Big Band Caravan

Dave Albert--Brian Hobbs Big Band Love Remembered Eidolon Records 2012

What a bold and unusual idea, opening a big-band album with a waltz performed by a trio. The Albert-Hobbs Big Band does exactly that with “For Mr. C," one of several dedications on its debut recording, Love Remembered. Once it ...

R3: Special Big Band R3 Summit Records 2012

The “R3" in this Brazilian-based band's name refers to brothers Rafael, Renato and Roger Rocha who together comprise its heart and soul. The “Special" pertains to just about everything else on this impressive debut album. Indeed, there could be even more “R's" in the ...

Bob Mintzer Big Band For the Moment MCG Jazz 2012

Anyone who has followed Bob Mintzer's career knows that the multi-talented saxophonist / educator has always had a special place in his heart for music from south of the border (he even recorded a big-band album, Latin from Manhattan, back in 1998). ...

Kris Berg & the Metroplexity Big Band This Time / Last Year MAMA Records 2012

Until now, bassist / educator Kris Berg, who oversees the Jazz Studies program at Collin College near Dallas, TX, has been widely known and respected as someone who writes and arranges songs for others to play. From ...

Budman / Levy Orchestra From There to Here OA2 Records 2012

If this splendid album, recorded two years ago (2010), is in any way emblematic of what lies ahead, the long-range outlook for big band jazz is indeed bright and auspicious. Saxophonist Alex Budman and trombonist Jeremy Levy have assembled a group of ...

James Morrison Snappy Too Morrison Records 2012

The first question that arises about Snappy Too, the latest mind-blowing enterprise by Aussie James Morrison, is how is it to be filed: under “big band" or “duo"? The fact is, the album is both, as the personnel consists of Jeff Hamilton on drums and Morrison ...

Dartstadter Big Band Kentomania Self Published 2010

Of all the recorded tributes to the legendary Stan Kenton released during the centennial of his birth (2011), the Darmstadter Big Band's Kentomania (it's spelled that way on the jacket cover and disc) is unequaled for one reason alone: it has former Kenton standout Herb Geller ...

Bob Lark and His Alumni Big Band Reunion Jazzed Media 2012

As director for more than two decades of DePaul University's superb Jazz Ensemble, trumpeter Bob Lark has seen an endless parade of outstanding musicians pass through the ranks, which makes the first-ever Reunion of his Alumni Big Band a more than special ...

Stan Kenton Orchestra/UW-Eau Claire Jazz Ensemble 1 Double Feature, Vol. 3 Tantara Productions 2012

Volume 3 in Tantara's ongoing two-CD series of Double Features, encompassing heretofore unissued music by the Stan Kenton Orchestra and guests, covers parts of five Kenton concerts spanning the years 1971-77 on Disc 1, and presents a dozen never-recorded ...

Nova Contemporary Jazz Orchestra Who Sez You Can't Dance to Bebop? Nova Jazz 2010

When last heard from, Minnesota's dauntless Nova Jazz Orchestra was performing alongside the legendary Stan Kenton Orchestra--well, not actually “alongside," but as part of the Tantara label's ongoing two-disc salute to Kenton, Double Feature, Vol. 2. On that occasion, ...

Skelton Skinner Allstars Big Band Cookin' with the Lid On Diving Duck Records 2012

Back in the late 1950s, vibraphonist Terry Gibbs (with some help from his friends) put together an ensemble that became known as the Terry Gibbs Dream Band, took up residence in Hollywood and began blowing audiences away at the ...

Stan Kenton Orchestra / NOVA Jazz Orchestra Double Feature, Vol. 2 Tantara Productions 2012

One of the more difficult aspects of reviewing Tantara's series of impressive salutes to Stan Kenton and his music is knowing where to begin. As on Volume 1 of the label's Double Feature (with Volume 3 already on the ...

Cecilia Coleman Big Band Oh Boy! PandaKat Records 2011

Among the many pleasant surprises on Oh Boy!, pianist Cecilia Coleman's maiden voyage as leader of her own big band, perhaps the most eye-opening is that the band had been together for only eight months when the album was recorded by the renowned Rudy ...

Westchester Jazz Orchestra Maiden Voyage Suite WJO 2010

The heavy-hitting Westchester Jazz Orchestra, one of whose ambitions under artistic director Mike Holober is to broaden its musical horizons, devotes its second album to renovating for a sixteen-member ensemble the music of pianist Herbie Hancock's classic recording Maiden Voyage (Blue Note, 1964). ...