Seth Weaver Big Band's Truth

My latest Vinyl Anachronist music review is now live at Part-Time Audiophile. You can read it here.

Sinne Eeg and the Danish Radio Big Band's We've Just Begun

My latest Vinyl Anachronist music review is now live at Part-Time Audiophile. You can read it here.

Ronny Whyte's Whyte Witchcraft

My latest Vinyl Anachronist music review is now live at Part-Time Audiophile. You can read it here.

The Interplay Jazz Orchestra's On the Sunny Side

I don't know how it is where you live, but I'm getting tired of all this rain. For the first time ever, I've just received a text from the Emergency Broadcasting System warning me of flash flooding in my area--an area that isn't known for flooding. Luckily, I have some big band jazz here that's perfect for an early summer day where the weather is more conducive to building arks than playing in the sun. The Interplay Jazz Orchestra, based in Long Island, has just released their third album, On the Sunny Side, and as you can imagine it's chock-full of songs that are mostly cheerful and celebratory. It's an optimistic album, obviously, but since it features some of the most in-demand jazz musicians in New York, it swings like nobody's business.

That's important for someone like me, a sometimes sad-sack who often wants to wallow in the saddest music in the world in order to unlock the lost keys to happiness. If you're going to be happy all over the place, you better have some attitude and swagger spilling all over everything. That means you need talent, which is the whole reason for the Interplay Jazz Orchestra to exist. The talent here is overflowing, forgive the rainy day pun. While the focus on this album is lively, upbeat tunes such as The Carpenter's "Sing" and "On the Sunny Side of the Street," it's also a showcase for compositions from the band--trombonist Joey Devassy, trumpeters Gary Henderson and Damien Pacheco and sax player Chris Scarnato have all arranged some of the classics here. On the Sunny Side is even recorded in Long Island, just barely so, at the famous Bunker Studios in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

IJO is a big band, but it's also unusually tight and focused. A lot of that comes from the energetic arrangements that focus on a more happy mood I suppose--loose might sound like morose in the world of big band jazz. Plus it's hard to sound lugubrious with an ensemble that's so heavy on horns--six on various saxes, four on trombones and four on trumpets. Fortunately this is not a one-note performance, so to speak, and the band isn't just trying to cheer us all up. There are thoughtful moments, usually focused around Jay Orig's interludes on piano, and some of the songs are designed to show the other side of happiness such as Devassy's "Broken" and the album's closer, Henderson's "Lights Down Low."

That's okay, because even at my most manic I could never suffer through more than ten minutes of happy-slappy music at a clip. On the Sunny Side appears to abide by the old adage that you'll never appreciate the good times unless you've had some bad ones along the way. I'm thankful for that, and that's what makes this album a pleasure instead of an "Up with People" marathon. Happiness is rare, but it is deserved by everyone--even when those flood waters are rising and speeding past your window.

The 14 Jazz Orchestra's The Future Ain't What It Used to Be

What's the name of Donald Kaufman's screenplay in the film Adaptation? Is it The 3? That's all I keep thinking about when I look at the cover of this CD. The 14. Sounds ominous, right? The 14 are here to tell you that the future ain't what it used to be.

The 14, of course, is a jazz orchestra--that's right, this is big band jazz and not another askew vision from Charlie Kaufman or Spike Jonze. The 14 are all alumni from the University of Miami, led by arranger Dan Bonsanti. Their previous album was titled Nothing Hard Is Ever Easy, so there's a playfulness at hand. But what else separates this big band ensemble from all the others? In a word, I'd have to say tightness.

That's the first thing I noticed about this album--there's a perfection afoot, an almost preternatural gleam to the way these musicians perform. Big band jazz is always about precision, of having every single person on stage doing what they're supposed to do. Mistakes and tangents get amplified by the others if you aren't careful, and even the improvisations are carefully measured before they are poured into the mix. I've heard sloppy big band jazz in the last year, and sometimes it's downright enjoyable in terms of sheer personality, but serious fans will frown at you if you get all Keith Moon on them. That's why there's a certain modicum of respect toward ensembles that get this much absolutely right.

That's okay, of course. Sloppy is good with a trio or a quartet and often sounds like cacophony beyond that. Bonsanti and his skilled group of performers have that aura about them, the drive to be the best in their field, which may be cultivated from the competitive world of big band programs at American universities, something I've discussed often. Bonsanti himself has come from a very interesting background, arranging and playing sax for such leaders as Doc Severinsen (who's still around) and Stan Kenton. He's most famous for his work with Jaco Pastorius' Word of Mouth Orchestra. That's a lot of flavor right there.

It sounds like I'm complaining about something being too good, and I'm not. This is a tight band, but not one unwilling to take a chance or two. Just listen to The 14 take on that classic "16 Tons," a wild excursion that takes risk after risk and comes off as one hell of a party tune--one that is played, again, with utter precision. There's a vague feeling, in fact, that the band loosens up somewhat as the album goes on--they're just warming up, perhaps? You hear a little more variety in the instrumentation here and there, a few more genre swaps. The Future Ain't What It Used to Be is ultimately about one thing though, and that's beating the competition, but not at the cost of composition.

The BBB Featuring Bernie Dresel's Bern Bern Bern

I think I've figured something out about big band jazz: I tend to really like performances that are led by the drummer. I can say the same thing, and often do, about smaller ensembles, but there's something about a drummer leading a big band that just seems so dynamic and exciting. These drummers are leading by their rhythms, so I think they have to be extra expressive in the way they play. If you love drummers like I love drummers, you'll probably have a very favorable reaction to these types of performances.

Bernie Dresel has been doing this for a long time, and he's pretty well-known within the Los Angeles music scene, and not just in jazz. Bernie was the drummer for the Brian Setzer Orchestra for fourteen years, which means I've seen him perform live at least a couple of times. He's been the leader of The BBB, which stands for Bernin' Big Band, for the last couple of years. (That's right, the full title of this album is The Bernin' Big Band Featuring Bernie Dresel's Bern Bern Bern.) Perhaps that's also the reason why I responded so favorably to this album after just a few minutes of listening--Dresel has a classic rock and roll soul that carries over into these 14 tracks.

As I just mentioned in my Kenny Carr review yesterday, the intersection between rock and jazz can be very subtle. While Carr's excellent album uses this cross-referencing as a foundation, it's icing on the cake for The BBB. Bern Bern Bern is 95% big band jazz, played with confidence and swagger. That remaining 5% is overt such as the addition of a distorted electric guitar solo from Andrew Synowiec or a very steady rock beat from Dresel. Synowiec even gets to evoke Setzer on a couple of tracks, a homage to Dresel's roots perhaps--it's so satisfying to hear a rockabilly twang in the middle of a big band performance.

It's obvious this album is focused on one thing, and that's Bern. He's a magnificent drummer, fluid and blindingly fast when he needs to be. When I would see the Brian Setzer Orchestra perform, my initial reaction would always be this: "Man, I forget just how great Brian is on guitar." With this album, I feel the same way about Dresel's drumming. It's front and center, and it leads like a whirlwind.

Elliot Deutsch's Make Big Band Great Again

Uh oh, I thought.

You got one of them red caps on the album cover, you start off with "America, the Beautiful" and you follow up with original compositions with titles such as "Fake News," "Repeal and Replace" and "The Great Wall"...what am I getting myself into here? Fortunately, Make Big Band Great Again is not what you think, or it's exactly what you think, depending upon your views. "It made no sense to me that Donald Trump aimed to dismantle the progress of the Obama era while simultaneously presenting himself as a man of the people," composer and arranger Elliot Deutsch explains.

This EP--outside of the patriotic intro, there are only four compositions here--is Deutsch's musical reaction to the 2016 election as someone who depends upon Obamacare and the NEA. He originally intended this album as a tribute to Los Angeles, which is why the final song is titled "Pink Sunset (Over Gray Skies)." You can listen to these four main pieces without attaching any message to them, since this is a bright, jazzy big band performance with a tight groove and solid melodies. If you dig deep into Deutsch's intentions, the music changes.

"Repeal and Replace," for instance, alternates between a tighter groove that represents Trump's vision for health care, and wild sections that describe the actual mess he created. A lone trumpet represents a single citizen trying to navigate the chasm. "The Great Wall" has an enthusiastic and celebratory feel to it which is meant to symbolize the idea of a "migrant-free utopia" while secretly presenting the idea that an easier path to immigration would be the wiser solution.

This is a brave album, just like John Daversa's American Dreamers--one has to think that a majority of big band jazz fans are older and possibly conservative in their views. That brings you back to the title, about making big band great again, and how that might occur in one of two ways--by enlightening the current fans or by bringing in the younger folks who are more in tune with this approach. Then again, music has always been an effective medium for those who cherish free speech. If that brings more people to big jazz, or if that makes some people re-evaluate their values, it's a good thing.

Greg Yasinitsky's YAZZ Band

Here's another big band jazz album from an academic, this time from the Pacific Northwest--my old stomping grounds. Saxophonist Greg Yasinitsky teaches composition, jazz studies and the finer points of his musical instrument at Washington State University. As with most of these professors in jazz studies programs across the United States, Yasinitsky has one of those long resumes where he's played with everybody worth playing with--Randy Brecker, Lou Rawls, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Louie Bellson, Stan Getz, Lionel Hampton, Mel Torme and Clark Terry. In other words, he's no journeyman. His new album, YAZZ Band, is strictly big band jazz, which always seems like a natural choice for musicians who are mentoring the next generation of young musicians.

As you might imagine, this is a very professional affair with lots of superb featured soloists such as drummers David Jarvis and Dan Bukvich, trumpeter Vern Sielert, flugelhorn player John Harbaugh and many more. What's intriguing is this beautiful recording was captured right in the studios at WSU, which seems to underline that premise I've been pushing all year--that college jazz programs are doing more than their share to keep jazz alive in the United States. This recording, like many others of its kind, sounds just as dynamic and clean and realistic as anything that might have been laid down at a professional studio with some guy at the board who's been doing the same thing for several decades. The line between "Jazz Studies" and "Jazz in the Real World" is getting mighty blurry.

It makes sense that these are original Yasinitsky compositions since he teaches the subject at WSU, and he does have a classic style that melds a nostalgic feel from the post-war era with a big, dynamic sound that's suited for modern big band audiences. Yasinitsky leads the band much of the way while he's blowing his sax, and he has a sultry delivery that reinforces that old-fashioned yet sexy mood. There's only a few times that Yasinitsky steps back and lets someone else take the wheel, and that someone is usually pianist Brian Ward. Ward shares Yasinitsky's taste for sweeping romantic notions, and his lyrical phrasing digs deep into the beating heart of songs such as "New York Confidential" and "Sideways."

Many of Yasinitsky's compositions were commissioned for the 30th anniversary of the British Columbia Interior Jazz Festival. Most of the musicians in the YAZZ Band are also from the Pacific Northwest. I'd like to say that the YAZZ Band plays in the traditional style of PNW jazz, but as far as I know there is no such thing. What this geography reveals is that big band jazz is experiencing quite a lot of exposure these days, whether the musicians are from the University of North Texas, the University of South Florida or Washington State University. It's American music, played all over the world, and young people are still signing up in droves to learn it and play it--and that's exciting.

Randy Waldman's SuperHeroes

By definition, big band jazz albums should be a lot of fun. This new CD from pianist Randy Waldman, famous for his work with Barbra Streisand, Michael Buble and The Manhattan Transfer, uses a big band setting for this huge project that's centered around superhero themes. We're talking "The Adventures of Superman," "The Mighty Mouse Theme," "Spiderman" and eight more familiar tunes, all played by a star-studded cast (did I actually just use that term?) that includes Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, Steve Gadd, Randy Brecker, George Benson and the vocal group Take 6. Waldman also uses cameos from celebrities such as John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Buble, James Brolin, Jeff Goldblum and Josh Groban to push the narration forward. It took five years for Waldman to put this all together, and the result is the ultimate big budget, big band release--polished, fun and professional.

As Waldman explains the genesis of this product, he was sitting next to Adam West at an event when the two of them started talking about jazz. West was a big jazz aficionado, and Waldman walked away from the conversation thinking that "West was an actaul jazz superhero." He then enlisted the help of his own "jazz superheroes" to make this album. He uses his own jazz trio, which also includes drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and bassist Carlitos Del Puerto, to provide the core for the jazz arrangements of this famous music, which makes the overall feel less "big band" and far more intimate and focused. The big horn section provides punctuation, not to mention affirmations of the well-known themes, but the heart of the music belongs to three swinging jazz musicians.

That's an excellent strategy, of course--there's a lot of people walking in and out of these songs, and it could easily devolve into chaos. Waldman keeps his piano at the center of it all, and his distinctive and melodic style is the glue that holds it all together. What makes this product live and breathe far beyond gimmickry is found in the improvisation, and how Waldman's arrangements start off with a very recognizable tune such as the theme for Batman (both from the TV show and the 1989 film), The Six Million Dollar Man and even Super Chicken and use it as a launching point for some intriguing tangents that travel great distances to highlight the musical validity of each piece. This is pretty much standard for jazz, of course--theme, improvisation, reprise--but Waldman takes it a step further by winding up at some surprising destinations. Sometimes you forget the origins along the way, but when it's all wrapped up at the end it makes perfect sense.

On the surface, SuperHeroes doesn't seem like serious jazz, and serious jazz aficionados might scoff at the idea of turning these old tunes into something that can be called legitimate. What makes this album so surprising and rewarding, however, is that it does feature some great performances, and these arrangements are inventive and skilled in their execution--even Super Chicken. The novelty is only obvious for a minute or two of each track, and then you're rewarded with some top-notch jazz from some of the best musicians in the world.

Mark Masters Ensemble's Our Metier

While listening to trumpeter Mark Masters' new album, Our Metier, I started thinking about European influences in jazz and how to properly define them--a fool's errand, of course. Perhaps it's because of the impressionist painting on the cover, or Masters' propensity for using ethereal elements in his music such as voice and vibes, but these ten original compositions are dense and complex and moody and because of that they seem to be from somewhere else, somewhere more cultured. Masters is known for re-imagining the music of others into jazz idioms, most notably his adaptations of Steely Dan, but here he seems to be traveling abroad, at least in his mind, soaking his forward-thinking jazz in a sea of pastels.

That's the key here, colors, because that's what I hear when I listen to Our Metier. I'm not talking about synesthesia, of course, but the simple act of ascribing colors to moods. That apt cover was wisely chosen and sets those moods, and Masters has assembled what he calls a "free bop" large ensemble that can move and improvise in a way that highlights those natural and light-filled hues. There's a lightness to his music, the sense that everything is floating in space as one despite the focus on improvisation.

These impressions are mostly due to Masters' vivid arrangements, and his ensemble is unique enough to bring the composition and the execution together. He's enlisted two trumpets (Scott Englebright and Les Lovitt, a French horn (Stephanie O'Keefe), two trombones (Les Benedict and Ryan Dragon, plenty of woodwinds, including a bass clarinet (Kirsten Edkins and Bob Carr,. a piano (Ed Czach and thate ghostly, shimmering vibraphone (Craig Fundyga). That implies a horn-heavy presentation, which is certainly true at times, but that ethereal sheen levels the playing field so that the horn and woodwinds are balanced with the core sextet of soloists and the lovely, wordless vocals of Anna Mjoll. That's right, each track contains a solo from what Masters calls The Sextet: drummer Andrew Cyrille, bassist Putter Smith, trumpeter Tim Hogans and saxophone players Gary Foster, Oliver Lake and Mark Turner.

That's almost a big band right there, and at times it sounds like one. For the most part Our Metier has a much more intimate feel to it, however, a softer countenance that, despite all those horns, is smoother and lighter than you'd expect from such a large ensemble. For me this music offers only a passing resemblance to big band jazz--it is far more subtle and moody, and far more loose and exploratory. Perhaps that's why I keep thinking of this album as European in character--it seems to me that European big bands such as the WDR are far more willing to go beyond the boundaries of any particular jazz genre and give in to intuition. This is jazz from an impressionist master, with all those wonderful colors intact.

John Daversa Big Band's American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom

It's not often that you can call a big band jazz recording timely or topical, but here we are with American Dreamers, a project from John Daversa's Big Band that brings together DACA artists who can also play musical instruments and otherwise perform within a big band setting. Daversa worked with several non-profit immigrant organizations and was able to locate 53 Dreamers in 17 states, children of immigrants from such countries as Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Nigeria, Pakistan and even Canada. American Dreamers, in its final form, is a busy, ambitious mixture of songs chosen by the Dreamers, songs such as "Living In America," "Immigrant Song," "Stars and Stripes Forever" and "America" from West Side Story, all interspersed with stories of growing up in America from the Dreamers themselves.

As you can guess, this is a very unique big band recording, and not just because of the themes. Musically, Daversa's band is willing to take all kinds of crazy risks. You probably noticed that I mentioned "Immigrant Song"--yes, we're talking about the Led Zeppelin song, and it blends the big band sound with lots of churning, electric guitars and--wait for it--sections of pure hip-hop. It's wonderful and exciting and like nothing you've heard. In other tracks these dreamers perform musical and vocal solos, complex percussion grooves, spoken word poetry and more rapping. Did I say this project was ambitious?

The beating heart of this album, however, is the stories. One Dreamer talks of earning a university scholarship and being unable to take advantage of it because of his immigration status. Another explains that she became a drummer and percussionist because it helped to alleviate her stress about her immigration status. Another describes how her family came to America to get medical help for her sister. These stories are not casually told, but conveyed with heart and emotion.

"Music has always been tied to the fight for justice." This quote from U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, along with another from Senator Lindsey Graham, are featured prominently on the back cover of American Dreamers, and that provides the momentum for the album, the call to action. To appropriate an old musical cliche, Daversa's big band plays with feeling, but it's more real and sincere than usual. This album could have been shrouded in earnestness, but the skill and cohesiveness of these arrangements brings the cause to another level, one that should garner significant attention once the word gets out. Listening to American Dreamers also begs the question: why don't they take this on the road? Put it on Broadway! Keep fighting the fight.

Greg Diaz and the Art of Imagination Orchestra's Begin the Agora

Greg Diaz's large jazz ensemble, The Art of the Imagination Jazz Orchestra, sounds quite a bit different than most big bands. At first I thought it was because they were slightly smaller than most jazz big bands, but 17 musicians--including tenor sax player and composer Diaz--are listed in the credits. You have five sax players, four trumpeters and four trombones, so you can anticipate a big sound that usually comes from such a meaty horn section. But at the core of The Art of Imagination Orchestra is a tight, focused rhythm section that includes keyboard player Eero Turunen, guitarist Chrsitian davis, bassist James McCoy and drummer Matt Calderin. These four don't play like they're in a big band jazz ensemble. They play like they're in a really hot funk-rock band, and that's the difference.

This is Greg Diaz's "long overdue debut" album, which means he's one of those guys who has been around for years and has played with just about everyone--we're talking Tito Puente, The Letterman, The Temptations, Ben E. King, Phil Woods and more. From that line-up, the funky core of his orchestra makes perfect sense. Through his arrangements of hits from Kevin Eubanks ("The Navigator"), a New Orleans medley that fuses "Brother John" and "Iko Iko" with an original composition and a few more original stand-alones, Diaz is a bridge of sorts between two bands. One on side he has one of those dazzling, powerful horn sections that always seems like it's on the verge of exploding on stage, and on the other side that killer rhythm section does more than ground the orchestra--it jumps behind the wheel and stomps on the gas pedal.

Diaz is also one of those jazz musicians who has a side job in the faculty of a jazz department in a college--in this case, Miami Dade Community College. Surprisingly, he is a Professor of Jazz Voice there. Despite the fact that he can play tenor sax, clarinet and flute, and that he composes and arranges this album, he does get a chance to sing during the New Orleans medley, and it's a big and appropriately joyous voice he possesses. Despite this versatility, he champions numerous solos from both sides of his orchestra. That gives Begin the Agora a vibe that is constantly evolving while maintaining a major chord energy that always sounds like a celebration.

I have a few more big band recordings on deck. They tend to arrive in clusters. The key to enjoying each recording is to pick out the signature, the angle that makes each one unique. That's important, since most big band recordings focus on standards and bringing something new to the mix--which is harder than it sounds. Diaz and his orchestra have found their own signature, that rich and funky momentum that's borne from that killer rhythm section and is given flight by that powerhouse of a horn section. But most of all there's a man standing in the middle, a sax player who keeps the two halves together through his multitude of talents.

The Frankfurt Radio Big Band: Jim McNeely's Barefoot Dances and Other Visions

It's not news that I've been inundated with big band jazz recordings over the last few months. And yes, the UNT big band jazz project is long finished and will be appearing in Part-Time Audiophile shortly. Through all of these recordings, most of them fantastic and illuminating, I've questioned deep down that it might not be my specific cup of tea. But I've soldiered on, stepping outside of myself to give these huge ensembles the credit they deserve. I suppose my reservations revolve around the fun factor in this music--it's splashy and exciting and precise.

Is that my thing? I'm not sure. I like my jazz to be on the moody, forlorn side of the spectrum. Most big band jazz performances are focused around the standards, delivering them with the prerequisite amounts of dazzle. If I could just find a big band sound that captured the more melancholy and reflective side of music, a sound that's new and distinctive and shies away from more than just a novel theme or approach. Ask and ye shall receive, in the form of this new release from the Frankfurt Radio Big Band--located, of course in Germany.

Envisioned by conductor and composer Jim McNeely, these seven songs depart from big band canon with liberal doses of the sad and the surreal. I'm not talking about abstract or "free" ideas that branch out on nervous tangents, but rather somber moods and places I haven't been. There are moments during this amazing recording, which was culled from two live performances back in 2014, where the big band moniker doesn't seem to apply. There's a dreaminess to McNeely's vision that skirts along the more substantial nooks and crannies of jazz as we know it. There's an almost magical way this band travels into darker territory, a land where brash dynamics surrender to a far more intimate feel. The emotions here are complex and full of doubt and regret. It's not downbeat as much as thoughtful, serene and perhaps a bit confrontational.

These pieces present seven "imaginary scenes" that start off as chamber-bound and develop into the appropriate size and scale of big band. That's why there such an unusual sense of the sacred and the fantastic. Fantasy is the key word here, with the tracks borne from "imaginary friends; winning the 'big game;" confronting monsters; visits from mysterious people we don't recognize." That essence informs the listener every step of the way, providing a new roadmap to a big band sound I didn't realize was possible. If you have predisposed ideas of what a big band jazz ensemble should be accomplishing, I challenge you to listen to this new album and bask in completely new visions of sound.

The Big Band Side of Andrew Neu--Catwalk

What, more big band releases?

Yes, more big band releases, this one being the third of four in a row. I've noticed that over the last year I've been getting jazz releases in genre groups--female vocals, free jazz, the Hammond B-3 organ trios. I could break them up and juxtapose the genres, but I do try to write reviews in a timely manner, which means that I'd like to tell you about each album before the release date if I can manage. And I just happened to get four big band releases in the space of just a couple of days. Am I complaining? Not on your life. If anything, diving head first into certain genres gives you a better perspective when it comes to comparisons.

Speaking of comparisons, tenor saxophone player and composer Andrew Neu's debut big band album does have a unique feel that separates it from The Jazz Diva Orchestra and Ira B. Liss's Big Band Jazz Machine. The DJO was about precision and impact, IBLBBJM was about having a lot of fun with old friends. Catwalk, on the other hand, is all about style. It's about walking down an urban street back when the tall buildings were still in black and white. It's about cool and it's about hip. I've imagined so many of these big band orchestras as well-oiled machines, but Neu's group of pros are different. They're honey badgers, if you know what I mean.

Neu has already released four CDs, and they feature smaller and more intimate ensembles. He's been working with LA studio musicians for so many years and he really wanted to gather them up and make a big band recording. "I feel that this is my most honest recording to date!" Neu exclaims on his liner notes, and you can feel it in this mix of eight originals and a scattering of covers. (Ennio Morricone's theme for Cinema Paradiso is a fun tangent, for example.) This band features such LA vets as Randy Brecker, Wayne Bergeron, Eric Marienthal, Rick Braun, Gordon Goodwin and Bob Mintzer, who is such an integral part of the Ira B. Liss release from yesterday. These musicians know one thing, and that's how to hang loose while playing tight. They hit their marks like most other big bands, but their sound seems to imply that those marks are going to be hit no matter what happens.

So yes, Catwalk has the excitement and punch of the other two ensembles, but they have plenty of swagger. I've been mentioning swagger a lot lately, and I think it's an essential component to playing great jazz. No one wants to hear a soloist who's not confident or who is overly nervous. We want our jazz performers to stand out on the edge of the stage and dare us to criticize what they're doing. As Janelle Monae once said, "You don't know nuthin'!" That's sort of the point. Trust these men and women and they'll take you to the same hangouts where Buddy Rich, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Maynard Ferguson used to play.

Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine's Tasty Tunes

Perhaps there's a reason why I'm getting all these big band recordings while struggling to complete the University of North Texas project. Yesterday's review of the Diva Jazz Orchestra prompted me to think of these professional recordings as comparisons to the student output at UNT, and how everything should measure up. I went into the UNT project and its 11 CDs of tunes with a great first impression--"these kids can play." But when I listen to recordings from DJO and now the Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine, I'm hearing something that I'm not hearing on the UNT releases--confidence. The UNT students are obviously talented, but what they lack is that last bit of swing, that undeniable swagger that's so essential to jazz. The students aren't falling short, they're just in need of some life experiences to toughen up their sound with a bit of context.

The IBLBBJM (wow!) has been part of the Southern California jazz scene for nearly 40 years, and they sound like it. There is no floundering, only unbridled confidence and precision that I mentioned in the DJO review. When you think about big band ensembles and how that rigidity is portrayed to the public in films such as Whiplash or in those scary real life accounts of abusive bandleaders such as Buddy Rich, you start to think that perfection is the hallmark of this genre. In many ways this is the opposite of be-bop and free jazz and the other forms I've loved over the years where it's all about improvisation and exploration and not the notes and squiggly lines on the page in front of you. In big band jazz, there are plenty of opportunities for the killer solo, but they are often contained within the whole in a much more structured way.

Tasty Tunes is the fifth CD from this well-oiled machine and features such guests as composer/saxophonist Bob Mintzer (Yellowjackets), composer/flutist Holly Hofmann (Brecker Brothers) and a few others. As you can tell from the title, there are no complex themes here--Ira B. Liss just wanted to have fun with his band. There's a wide range of styles represented here, everything from Rodgers & Hart's "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" to Dave Grusin's "Mountain Dance." Mintzer, who plays the role of the Very Special Guest Star, contributes one of his own compositions, "When the Lady Dances." While these tunes do arrive with diverse backgrounds, they are delivered in mostly the same way--with fast tempos and oodles of swing. Once in a while the band takes it down a notch, most notably with their version of "Nature Boy" that features lovely and heartfelt vocals from Janet Hammer. (Is it me, or is this song being covered by everyone this year?) For the most of the way, it's full speed ahead.

One of the most interesting things about IBLBBJM is Mr. Liss himself. He's six feet, seven inches tall and he is said to tower over his band while he's leading them. It takes a big man to do big band jazz, it seems, and this album sounds BIG in every dimension. Along with the DJO 25th Anniversary Project, Tasty Tunes is a polished and perfect gem of an album for big band fans everywhere.