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.
Joe Clark Big Band, Black And Cardinal, full album: YouTube ; Spotify ; Bandcamp
This is on the Big Band 2024 and Jazz Best Albums 2024 playlists at Spotify/Jazz Todayish. 😎
3rd (or 1st) of 3 posts about jazz big bands comprised of young musicians. The other 2 are a short scroll below.
The class projects of the University of North Texas College of Music 'One O’Clock Lab Band' (OLB) have 7 Grammy Award nominations since the 1970s,
from a library of >80 critically-acclaimed albums. Their 2024 release is Lab 2024.
"The OLB evolved from an extracurricular stage band founded
in 1927 into a curricular laboratory dance band in 1947 when North Texas
began its jazz degree program.... The OLB is noted for its exceptional individual musicianship and tight ensemble performance.... Among others, the university harbors the Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson Jazz Libraries." Wikipedia ; website ; YouTube ; Discogs (incomplete)
The One O'Clock Lab Band, Lab 2024, full album: YouTube ; Spotify
This is on the Big Band 2024 and Jazz Best Albums 2024 playlists at Spotify/Jazz Todayish.
The vid is not an album tune, but a nice performance of a tune by guest drummer Alison Miller. 😎
2nd of 3 posts about jazz big bands comprised of young musicians.
Joan Chamorro is a Spanish jazz saxophone, clarinet, flute, cornet, and double bass player. He is a tireless youth jazz educator. In 2006 he founded the Sant Andreu Jazz Band (SAJB), for 7 to 21 year olds, in Barcelona, Spain. The band has released ~ 27 albums in their Jazzing series since 2009. The albums are ~straight-ahead big band jazz, with ~3/4 instrumental tunes. Saxophonist Scott Hamilton is a frequent collaborator. Here's their 2024 releases:
Saint Andreu Jazz Band, Jazzing 14 Vol. 1, full album: YouTube ; Spotify ; Bandcamp
Saint Andreu Jazz Band, Jazzing 14 Vol. 2, full album: Spotify ; Bandcamp
These are on the Big Band 2024 playlist at Spotify/Jazz Todayish.
Joan Chamorro has released many small-band albums, with SAJB members and Scott Hamilton. Joan's website (& SAJB); YouTube (& SAJB); Discogs
The SAJB's Bandcamp (& Joan) ; Discogs (incomplete)
The SAJB guests on Joan Chamorro Presenta Koldo Munne listed in a post below.
Here's a nice taste of what the kids can do, with a tune from Vol.1 that features guest Gerry Lopez on alto sax and Koldo Munne on baritone sax. The kids are alright! 😎
Retrospective 1974, with an album from a half-century ago… (Friday 50s 😁)
Thom Jurek/AllAboutJazz: “It's difficult to note in the 21st century just how forward-thinking this avant-garde big band was, and how completely innovative saxophonist Sam Rivers' compositions are…. It is an underrated masterpiece and among the most rewarding and adventurous listening experiences in the history of jazz.” A piano-less big band (Wikipedia for correct musicians).
This was Rivers’ ~6th of >30 albums from 1965 to 2005. Sam’s big band work earned him 2 Grammy nominations. Discogs.
Sam Rivers, Crystals, full album: YouTube ; Spotify
Two of Sam's Grammy-nominated albums with the Rivbea Orchestra are posted below, for 'Retrospective 1999 - albums from a quarter-century ago...' Inspiration and Culmination.
This is on the Jazz Best Albums 1974 playlist at Spotify/Jazz Todayish. 😎
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 Jazz Orchestra, Live At Gusman Concert Hall 2023, full album: YouTube ; Spotify
2024 is on the Big Band 2024 and Jazz Best Albums 2024 playlists, and 2023 is on Big Band 2023 and the Jazz Best Albums 2023 playlists at Spotify/Jazz Todayish. 😎
Here's a nice performance of a 2024 album tune:
Retrospective 1999, which features an album from a quarter-century ago... (Tuesday 25s 😁)
"Lalo Schifrin's Latin Jazz Suite is a masterful celebration of the diverse and colorful sounds and feelings that Latin forms add to the jazz vocabulary. It is also a reflection of the composer's successful contributions to the Latin musical language over the last four decades." Douglas Payne/AllAboutJazz.
Recorded in concert with the WDR Big Band, guests include trumpeter Jon Faddis, saxophonist David Sanchez and percussionist Alex Acuna. The song ‘Fiesta’ earned a 2000 Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Arrangement.
Pianist/composer Lalo Schifrin has released >140 jazz, classical and film score albums since the 1950s. He is a five-time Grammy Award winner; he has been nominated for six Academy Awards (and received an 'honorary Oscar') and four Emmy Awards. Lalo's website ; Discogs.
Lalo Schifrin, Latin Jazz Suite, full album: YouTube ; Spotify
This is on the Jazz Best Albums 1999 playlist at Spotify/Jazz Todayish.
Enjoy the wonderful live show in full below. Video is a bit dated but sounds absolutely fine. 😎
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.
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.
This is on the Big Band 2024 and Jazz Best Albums 2024 playlists at Spotify/Jazz Todayish. 😎
"Fresh charts on navigable waters," wrote George Harris at JazzWeekly. This is bassist Peter Vuust's 8th release, first with a large ensemble.
Peter has a day job as a music professor at Aarhus University, Denmark. Peter's Google Scholar page.
The Aarhus Jazz Orchestra (AJO) was incorporated in 1977 as the Kluvers Big Band (KBB), and has released >30 albums since 1990. AJO: website ; Discogs ; YouTube. KBB Discogs.
Peter Vuust & Aarhus Jazz Orchestra, New Views, full album: YouTube ; Spotify ; Bandcamp
This is on Big Band 2024 and Jazz Best Albums 2024 at Spotify/Jazz Todayish. 😎
Retrospective 1999, with an album from a quarter-century ago.
Culmination was avant-garde saxophonist/composer/arranger Sam Rivers second big band album of 1999. These were his first albums in ~20 years, and the first 2 of 4 total with the Rivbea Orchestra. The album earned a Grammy nomination for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, as did Inspiration, a year earlier, which earlier earned a post below.
David Adler at AllAboutJazz: “You can practically hear the 70s loft scene come to life as Rivers and
the other strong soloists on this record — Steve Coleman, Greg Osby,
Gary Thomas, and Hamiet Bluiett among them — take turns navigating the
atonal contours of these compositions. Yet another elliptically eloquent
statement from Rivers, one of the most refreshingly radical improvisers
of our time.”
This is really nice big band, with a bit of a wild streak. Rivers released >40 albums from 1965-2005, with a few seminal big band albums. Discogs.
'Rivbea' is a combo of Sam’s and his wife Beatrice's name, and she helps arrange.
Sam Rivers' Rivbea Orchestra, Culmination, full album: YouTube ; Spotify
This is on the Jazz Best Albums 1999 playlist at Spotify/Jazz Todayish. 😎