Wynton Marsalis & Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra - ‘Big Train’

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

This is on the Jazz Best Albums 1999 playlist at Spotify/Jazz Todayish.

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.  😎

WDR Big Band & Jörg Keller - YouTube song - ‘Blueport’

The WDR Big Band posted this tune recently. 

From the YouTube info: “The WDR BIG BAND plays ‘Blueport’ (composer: Art Farmer / arranger: Al Cohn) under the direction of Jörg Achim Keller. Solos are played by Jens Neufang on baritone saxophone, Raphael Klemm on trombone, Paul Heller on tenor saxophone, John Goldsby on bass and Andy Hader on trumpet. Live recording of the concert ‘Mr Mulligan's Concert Jazz’ at the Kölner Philharmonie (October 2023).”

The WDR Big Band is a project of WDR Broadcasters in Cologne, Germany. They have released >75 albums since 1979. YouTube channel (please subscribe); website ; Discogs

Four posts below about seven WDR Big Band albums: with trombonist Marshall Gilkes; 4 albums of Steve Gadd et al & Bob Mintzer collaborations; with arranger Chuck Owens; with bassist Ron Carter.  😎

Garry Dial & Rich DeRosa - ‘Keep Swingin: The Music Of Charlie Banacos’

This nice 2024 album was mentioned as a new release on 11 February below.

Thierry De Clemensat/Paris-Move: “This collaborative project, led by … pianist Garry Dial and … arranger-drummer Rich DeRosa, honors the great jazz educator Charlie Banacos, whose pedagogy has influenced generations of jazz musicians over the past 50 years. The album, consisting of 10 tracks, presents Banacos’ music reimagined and rearranged by Dial and DeRosa, performed by some of Banacos’ most accomplished disciples and friends…. A 100-page book accompanies the album, containing personal anecdotes, photographs, artistic renditions, and more.”

Guests include Jerry Bergonzi & Gary Smulyan (sax), Dick Oatts & Terrell Stafford (trumpet), Jeff Berlin (bass) and Mike Stern (guitar).

This is Dial’s ~7th album since 1988. Discogs This is DeRosa’s ~2nd release since 2012. Discogs.

Garry Dial & Rich DeRosa, Keep Swingin’ - The Music Of Charlie Banacos, full album: YouTube ; Spotify ; book @ Bookbaby

This is on Jazz Best Albums 2024 and Big Band 2024 at Spotify/Jazz Todayish.  😎

Marshall Gilkes & WDR Big Band - YouTube song - ‘Sin Filtro’

Here’s a song from an album discussed on 7 February below.

YouTube: “Featured on the new album LifeSongs…. Marshall Gilkes performs his composition ‘Sin Filtro’ together with the WDR BIG BAND. Recorded as part of the concert ‘Fresh Start’ at WDR JAZZCLUB / Cologne in November 2022.”

The WDR Big Band is a project of WDR Broadcasters in Cologne, Germany. They have released >75 albums since 1979. YouTube channel (please subscribe); website ; Discogs ; Wikipedia

Four posts below about seven WDR Big Band albums: with trombonist Marshall Gilkes; 4 albums of Steve Gadd et al & Bob Mintzer collaborations; with arranger Chuck Owens; with bassist Ron Carter.  😎

Big Band 2023 album releases.

Added these albums to Big Band 2023, now ~88 albums, at Spotify/JazzTodayish. Check your streaming service. Inverted & Mo’ Joe are keepers.

Pierre Blanchard & Metropole Orkest, Movies & Gypsies. If violinist Stephane Grapelli fronted an orchestra. Pierre Blanchard. YouTube.

Auckland Jazz Orchestra, Inverted. AllAboutJazz. YouTube. Bandcamp.

JOTC Open Orchestra, Mo’ Joe - The Music Of Joe Henderson. YouTube.  😎

Arturo O’Farrill & Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra - ‘Virtual Birdland’ album and vlog.

Pianist Arturo O'Farrill leads the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, based in NYC. Arturo uploads a vlog to YouTube weekly, called ‘Virtual Birdland.’ Here’s a recent episode that features pandemic- related Zoom performances. They're wild because 18 musicians were coordinated to play from home, and is also how the namesake album was recorded.

YouTube: “Virtual Birdland is continuing for the beginning of 2024! Our Belongo/ALJA online content is changing, but we will continue to present on a regular basis. Tune in every Sunday at 8:30PM ET.

This week, we're revisiting some favorite selections from the Virtual Birdland CD, released on Zoho Music in 2021. Included are compositions by Arturo O'Farrill, Rafi Malkiel and the late, great Larry Willis.

To learn more about the work of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, and to see how you can contribute, please visit: https://afrolatinjazz.org #ALJO #ALJA #afrolatinjazz #ALJADigitalVillage #VirtualBirdland

The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra are: Arturo O’Farrill – Piano & Artistic Director. Saxes: Alejandro Aviles, Roman Filiu, Adison Evans, Ivan Renta, Jasper Dutz, Larry Bustamante. Trumpets: Seneca Black, Bryan Davis, Rachel Therrien, Adam O’Farrill, Walter Cano. Trombones: Rafi Malkiel, Mariel Bildsten, Abdulrahman Amer, Earl McIntyre. Vince Cherico – Drums, Bam Bam Rodriguez – Bass, Carlos “Carly” Maldonado – Percussion, Keisel Jimenez – Congas.”

The YouTube channel for Arturo’s vlog and the orchestra is Belongó | Afro Latin Jazz (please subscribe). This is episode 174, so the channel has many vlogs and performances.

Arturo has released ~21 albums since 1999, 8 with the orchestra. Arturo has 6 Grammys and 12 nominations (4 & 7 with the orchestra), to go with 2 Latin Grammys and 3 nominations (1 each with the orchestra). They won Grammys for Best Latin Jazz Album in 2021 and 2023, with a 2022 nomination. Quite a streak! Arturo’s Discogs ; website.

The vlog namesake album Virtual Birdland earned a 2022 Grammy Award nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album. Jack Bowers/AllAboutJazz: “It's an album that also touches a lot of bases, from Cuba to Morocco and beyond, embracing Brazilian and even Kuwaiti themes while employing Afro-Cuban rhythms, the samba, rhumba, bomba jazz and American swing to press home its point…. Even though this Birdland is virtual ... the spirit is no less ardent, and it shows.” Saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera guests and wrote the tune 'Samba for Carmen.'

Arturo O'Farrill, Virtual Birdland, full album: YouTube ; Spotify

This is on the Big Band 2021 playlist at Spotify/Jazz Todayish. 😎

Frankfurt Radio Big Band & Mark Turner - YouTube song - ‘Return From The Stars’

The Frankfurt Radio Big Band, with saxophonist Mark Turner, posted the tune ‘Return From The Stars’ recently. It is a Turner composition, arranged by Jim McNeely, and Christine Jenson conducts.

This is from an almost 2 hour concert available here on YouTube, from 9 March 2023. The show was discussed in a post below.

The Frankfurt Radio Big Band, also known as the ‘hr Big Band,’ is a project of Hessian Radio, Germany. They have released ~19 albums since 2007. YouTube channel (please subscribe); website ; Discogs. Their YouTube channel has >50 full concerts that were live streamed from the last 6 years!  😎

Steven Feifke & Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra - YouTube song - ‘Kinetic'

Pianist, big band composer/arranger, Grammy Award winner Steven Feifke posted his tune ‘Kinetic’ recently, with Steven Feifke and Bijon Watson's Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra.

YouTube: “The longstanding tradition … of hiring the ‘young guns’ for an ensemble has all but disappeared in recent years... With more than two decades between them, Steven and Bijon make the objective of ‘The Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra’ to strengthen that tradition of mentorship that has shaped and defined the jazz idiom since its earliest beginnings.”

From the New Trier Jazz Festival, Winnetka, IL, USA, 3 February 2024. See YouTube for band-members.

A post below celebrates Steven Feifke’s last 3 big band albums and Grammy Award: Catalyst; Generation Gap Orchestra; Kinetic.

Two of Feifke’s band-members released big band albums discussed in posts below:

Trombonist Javier Nero Kemet: The Black Land.

Trumpeter Derrick Gardner Still I Rise.  😎

Marshall Gilkes & WDR Big Band - YouTube song - ‘Middle Ground’

Here’s a song from an album discussed ~12 posts down on 7 February.

                       

YouTube: “Featured on the new album LifeSongs…. Marshall Gilkes performs his composition ‘Middle Ground’ together with the WDR BIG BAND. Solos are played by Ludwig Nuss, Raphael Klemm and Peter Hedrich on trombones. Recorded as part of the concert ‘Fresh Start’ at WDR JAZZCLUB / Cologne in November 2022.”

The WDR Big Band is a project of WDR Broadcasters in Cologne, Germany. They have released >75 albums since 1979. YouTube channel (please subscribe); website ; Discogs ; Wikipedia

Posts below about WDR Big Band albums: with trombonist Marshall Gilkes; 4 albums of Steve Gadd et al & Bob Mintzer collaborations; with arranger Chuck Owens; with bassist Ron Carter.  😎

Adam Schroeder & Mark Masters - ‘CT! Celebrate Clark Terry’

 This nice 2024 album was mentioned as a new release ~6 posts below.

Connor McCormick/Stage and Cinema: “On CT!, baritone saxophonist and bandleader Adam Schroeder teams up with arranger Mark Masters to deliver [13 tunes] composed by renowned trumpeter Clark Terry…. The proof is in the playing, and CT! is full of the kinds of moments that Terry himself would have appreciated, created by a band full of people with a clear connection to the history of the music, to its future, and to one another.” Peter Erskine drums.

Baritone saxophonist Adam Schroeder … presently serves as an Associate Professor of Jazz & Commercial Music at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He’s a prolific studio musician with many album, television, and film credits. Website ; Discogs (old)

Trumpeter/arranger Mark Masters has >15 big band releases since 1984. His most recent before this was the Mark Masters Ensemble Masters & Baron Meet Blanton & Webster. Discogs 1 ; Discogs 2.

Adam Schroeder & Mark Masters, CT! Celebrate Clark Terry, full album: YouTube ; Spotify

 This is on Jazz Best Albums 2024 and Big Band 2024 at Spotify/Jazz Todayish.  😎