Big band music
Earl Hines: Big Bands And Beyond On A New Box Set
Mosaic Records has released Classic Earl Hines Sessions 1928-1945. a seven-disc showcase for the jazz pianist and bandleader. Hines' right hand played lines in bright, clear octaves -- and his left hand had a mind of its own.
Digging Up The 'Newly Discovered Works Of Gil Evans.'
Scholar and fan Ryan Truesdell has turned unheard Evans scores into richly textured works.
Joost Buis And Astronotes: Controlled Anarchy
Joost Buis' tunes are clean and true, and still let weird details nibble at the edges on Zooming. That sort of despoiling playfulness typifies a lot of Hollands improvised music: Just because you're serious doesn't mean you have to be serious all the time.
Pre-MTV: 'Big Band, Jazz And Swing' Music Videos
In addition to newsreels, cartoon and coming attractions, movie studios used to show musical shorts before feature films. Warner Brothers has just released a six-DVD set of these shorts called Big Bands, Jazz and Swing. Classical musical critic Lloyd Schwartz says the new set is wroth checking out.
Saxophonist Tab Smith Played Smooth Jazz Before It Was a Bad Word
World music critic Milo Miles reviews three new re-issues of the music of saxophonist Tab Smith, featuring songs were recorded from 1953-1954. He says "Top 'n' Bottom" is has the best assortment of recordings.
A Neglected Period of Ellington's Music Captured on New Box Set.
Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a new cd box set of Duke Ellington's music from 1953-55. Mosaic Records.
Keeping it Loose in "Down Through the Years"
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the new live album from the Clifford Jordan Big Band. They perform weekly in New York City.
Big Bands from Boston Bring the Music into the 1990s.
Used to be that big bands were the thing. Now, they're pretty much a thing of the past. But jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says he's found a couple of big bands from Boston where teachers and students are drawn to schools like the New England Conservatory and the Berklee College of Music. He reviews "Orange Then Blue," by Funkallero, and "After Blue," by the Ken Schaphorst Big Band.
Five New Releases of Ellington in the '40s
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews "Duke Ellington's Carnegie Hall Concerts," a new series of CD reissues that chronicle the annual performances Ellington gave during the 40s.
A Jazz Critic's Guilty Pleasures
Kevin Whitehead doesn't like to admit liking new anthologies by Lester Lanin, whom he calls the king of blandness, and "crass and lowbrow" singer Jerry Lewis.