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.  😎

Frankfurt Radio Big Band & Oatts / Smulyan / McNeely - Complete Concert YouTube

Here’s a concert from 11 May 2023 by The Frankfurt Radio Big Band, with saxophonists Dick Oatts and Gary Smulyan and arranger/conductor Jim McNeely. See YouTube for a lot more info. This version re-masters the audio of the original livestream for improved sound.

The first tune 'Three And One' composed and arranged by Thad Jones:

Their YouTube channel has >50 full concerts that were live streamed from the last 6 years!

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

The whole show:  😎

Marshall Gilkes & WDR Big Band - YouTube song - ‘Fresh Start’

Here’s a song from an album discussed ~10 posts down.

YouTube: “Featured on the new album LifeSongs…. Marshall Gilkes performs his composition ‘Fresh Start’ 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

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.  😎

Frankfurt Radio Big Band with Mark Turner - YouTube song - ‘Walking Ballad’

The Frankfurt Radio Big Band, with saxophonist Mark Turner, posted the tune ‘Walking Ballad’ recently. It is a Turner composition, arranged by conductor Christine Jenson.

This is from an almost 2 hour concert available here on YouTube, from 9 March 2023. The show is being posted song-by-song, evidently.

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.  😎