Recent instrumental big band and orchestral jazz album recommendations. With 25 & 50 year retrospectives, to illustrate the timelessness of this great music.
THIS SITE PROMOTES FUN JAZZ!
Excerpts from and links to album reviews of rather boisterous jazz albums. Artist info links at: Wikipedia; website; Discogs; Bandcamp as available. Links to the full album on: basic/free YouTube; subscription Spotify; purchase download Bandcamp. Check your favorite service. Please enjoy!
Showing posts with label leader: trumpet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leader: trumpet. Show all posts
"One of the more flexible large ensembles on the New York scene. Capable
of swinging fervently, playing a persuasive mambo or laying down the
funk in no uncertain terms, the Hell’s Kitchen Funk Orchestra (HKFO) covers a
lot of bases on Chesapeake." Jeremy Smith/Last Row Music. Guests include saxophonist Gary Bartz, trombonist Conrad Herwig and keyboardist Paul Shaffer.
Trumpeter-composer-arranger-bandleader-educator and Baltimore native Bill Warfield has played in the NYC area and released ~9 big band albums since ~1983 (Discogs). Most were as the Bill Warfield Big Band, and this is the 3rd HKFO album since 2020. Bill has a day job as director of the jazz program at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Bill Warfield and The Hell’s Kitchen Funk Orchestra, Chesapeake, full album: YouTube ; Spotify
Joe Clark is a Chicago-based trumpeter, composer and arranger. His compositions have been performed by Yo Yo Ma, Kurt Elling and the WDR Big Band, to name a few. Black and Cardinal is his 4th album since 2013, and 2nd with a big band. The only complaint - it could be longer... Joe's Discogs.
1st (or 3rd) of 3 posts about jazz big bands comprised of young musicians.
The Frost Jazz Orchestra is a component of the Frost School Of Music at the University Of Miami (Florida, USA). The orchestra has won Downbeat Magazine Student Music Awards often over the last decade, and often plays with jazz-great guests. Composer/arranger/trumpeter Dr. John Daversa is resident director, and Chair Of Studio Music And Jazz. This album documents a fine performance from April 2024.
John Daversa has over a dozen big band and small group releases as a leader or co-leader since 1994. He's won 3 Grammy Awards with 6 nominations. John's website; YouTube; Discogs; ~monthly Podcast.
Frost Jazz Orchestra, Historic Landmarks Of Miami: Live At Gusman Concert Hall 2024, full album: YouTube ; Spotify
The orchestra's first album, from 2023, might be even better:
Frost JazzOrchestra, Live At Gusman Concert Hall 2023, full album: YouTube ; Spotify
Retrospective 1974, with an album from a half-century ago…
Scott Yanow/Allmusic: “This double LP is easily Maynard Ferguson's best jazz-oriented recording for Columbia… In addition to Ferguson's powerful trumpet, other musicians making strong impressions include first trumpeter Lin Biviano, altoist Andy MacIntosh, Ferdinand Povel on tenor, baritonist Bruce Johnstone, and keyboardist Pete Jackson.” Maynard's Discogs.
This was Maynard’s ~31st of >50 albums from 1955-2001. The song ‘Teonova’ is dedicated to the famed producer of this album Ted Macero, written by Pete Jackson.
Maynard Ferguson, M.F. Horn 4 & 5: Live At Jimmy’s, full album: YouTube; Spotify
Here's a vid of the song 'MacArthur Park,' with nice sound. Maynard’s music is always upbeat, and the virtuosity of his often fresh-out-of-college players is on full display.
The Thad Jones - Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra(TJMLJO) morphed into the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra (VJO) in 1990, has been in existence since 1965, and has won a Grammy by each name with 16 more nominations.
Trumpeter Thad Jones co-led the band through 1978, and a new VJO album celebrates his charts on Centennial. This is a 2 hour live show at the Village Vanguard in New York, where the orchestra has been in Monday-night residency for over 50 years! Album review at JazzWeekly.
The TJMLJO's 1974 double Grammy-nominated album Potpourri earned a post below, as part of a half-century retrospective. VJO Discogs. TJMLJO Discogs.
Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Centennial: The Music Of Thad Jones, full album: YouTube ; Spotify; Bandcamp.
Retrospective 1999, an album from 25 years or a quarter-century ago….
Richard Ginell/Allmusic: “A 52-minute big band suite modeled after Ellington's long-form essays, it purports to evoke the moods, sounds and feelings of a cross-country train trip with selections named after a train's various cars…. There is fine soloing all around in the hard bop tradition from Wessell Anderson, Victor Goines, Ted Nash & Walter Blanding, Jr. (saxes) and Wycliffe Gordon (trombone) …. One of Marsalis' better extended form essays.”
This was trumpeter/composer/arranger Wynton Marsalis’ ~51st of >100 albums since 1981. He has won 9 Grammys with 32 nominations. Discogs. Wikipedia. website.
The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (LCJO) originated in 1988, and Marsalis has directed since ‘91. LCJO has released ~18 albums since 2015, and >30 since 1992. Wikipedia; website; Discogs(incomplete). LCJO is a component of Jazz At Lincoln Center, NYC.
Wynton Marsalis & Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Big Train, full album: YouTube; Spotify
A 2023 big band album from LCJO saxophonist Victor Goines, The Woodlawn Suite, was the very first post of this blog, on 8 December 2023. More info about Victor in that post.
Jazz At Lincoln Center has a subscription video channel, called Jazz Live ($10 mo, $100 yr), and includes shows from Dizzy’s Club. Shows are live streamed and then available VOD. For $10 you get a ~half-dozen excellent live shows monthly.
Frustratingly, they only give access to a few of their back-log shows at-a-time, instead of full access to a treasure-trove of live jazz performances. Currently available, however, is a wonderful Toshiko Akiyoshi tribute concert from 2023, which features husband Lew Tabackin on sax, and the LCJO plays her big band charts.
Coincidentally, on Friday, May 3, 8 pm/2000h EDT, the LCJO and Wynton Marsalis perform(ed) Duke Ellington At 125. That’s 2 enticements for big band jazz fans to try Jazz Live.
Here's a live performance of Big Train in its entirety from around release time. Video is a bit dated, but the sound is fine. 😎
BluesRockReview: “Mr. Basie said, ‘our blues will make your blues go away.’ Throughout Basie Swings The Blues The Count Basie Orchestra flows the album together with both mood-altering rhythms and horn exclamation points.”
Shemekia Copeland, Keb Mo, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Bettye LeVette, Charlie Musselwhite, George Benson and more do a vocal tune and play.
Trumpeter Scotty Barnhart has led the band since 2013, their 6th leader since Basie died in ‘84, and they’ve now earned 3 Grammy nominations under his direction. The Count Basie Orchestra has been in ~continuous business since 1936! Orchestra’s website; Discogs
The video is the band swingin’ the blues from 1941. To record these guys with modern techniques….
The Count Basie Orchestra, Basie Swings The Blues, full album: YouTube; Spotify
The review of last year’s instrumental big-bandy Grammy nominees and winners continues. The 2024 Grammy Awards are February 4.
This album earned several classical music nominations at the 2023 Latin Grammys, but is a nice jazz + classical fusion, known as ‘3rd stream.’
The tune ‘Concerto Venezolano,’ written by saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera won for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. Paquito, who also guests, wrote the tune for trumpeter Pacho Flores.
The song ‘Crónicas Latinoamericanas’ was nominated for Best Arrangement, Daniel Freiberg, arranger. This was a Best Classical Music Album nominee also.
Mike Jurkovic/AllAboutJazz: "...Trumpeter Derrick Gardner fronts... long time Jazz Prophet's alto/tenor saxophonist Robert Dixon, trombonist brother Vincent Gardner, bassist Obasi Akoto, drummer Kweku Sumbry, and pianist George Caldwell... It is a powerhouse tear through... post-bop exoticism."
This
is Gardner's ~4th release as a leader since 2003. He's been active
since 1989, has played with many greats from his NYC base, and played
and arranged for the Basie orchestra. He has been a music professor at the Univ. of Manitoba (UOM), Canada, since 2011. Derrick: Wikipedia; Discogs
Derrick Gardner & the Jazz Prophets, Pan Africa, full album:YouTube ; Spotify ; Bandcamp
His 'Big dig! Band' big band did Still I Rise in 2020. The band combines NYC top-tier pros with graduates of his UOM program. Charlene Diehl/dig! magazine: “He lets his star players blaze, and makes room for the younger players to shoulder in.” Smokin' modern brass!
Derrick Gardner & the Big dig! Band, Still I Rise, full album: YouTube; Spotify; Bandcamp 😎
