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SWR Big Band
John Beasley, Magnus Lindgren, SWR Big Band: Bird Lives
by Jim Worsley
Round about 2017 there was a meeting of the minds. Composers and musicians John Beasley and Magnus Lindgren evolved as kindred spirits, and chose to work together on a project engulfing their shared appreciation of Charlie Parker. This tribute to the man who came to be known simply as Bird, had trouble taking flight. Obstacles, none bigger than Covid, came along and stood in the way. Dedicated to its completion, the pair, along with the SWR Big Band, has now ...
read moreEberhard Weber: Hommage à Eberhard Weber
by John Kelman
Despite being waylaid from playing the instrument that defined his approach to both performance and composition by a severe 2007 stroke, Eberhard Weber has managed to accomplish the seemingly impossible feat of continuing to make recordings that revolve around his instantly recognizable, custom-made electro-acoustic instrument: 2013's Resumé and 2015's appropriately titled Encore, both on ECM Records, the label that's been home to the bassist, composer and occasional bandleader since Colours of Chloë (1974), his award-winning leader debut. Now, it's true ...
read moreSWR Big Band: A Fresh Taste of Thad Jones and Frank Foster
by Jack Bowers
None of the music on Fresh Taste is actually fresh, having been recorded in 1994-96 when the SWR Big Band was still the SDR, and previously issued on CD--but that doesn't mean it need be any less rewarding to anyone who hasn't yet heard it. To the contrary, those whose antennae are attuned to the straight-ahead grooves espoused by Thad Jones, Frank Foster and the Count Basie Orchestra should find almost everything here immensely invigorating and agreeable.
While he commands ...
read moreThe SWR Big Band with Slide Hampton: Jazz Matinee
by Jack Bowers
Barbra Streisand sang that “people who need people” are the luckiest people in the world. To that list should be added big–band enthusiasts in and around Stuttgart, Germany, as the SWR Big Band’s Jazz Matinees there just keep getting better and better. The latest in the ensemble’s series of live recordings, showcasing the prodigious talents of American trombonist / composer / arranger Slide Hampton, is an unalloyed pleasure from end to end with Slide and the SWR in peak form ...
read moreThe SWR Big Band: Jazz in Concert Featuring Jens Winther
by Jack Bowers
The SWR Big Band is in danger of becoming Germany’s answer to the Netherlands Metropole Orchestra — but without the string section. Like Metropole, SWR has produced a series of albums in which the orchestra backs well–known guest artists, most of them Americans, but mainly in concert performances rather than the studio settings preferred by Metropole. This album, featuring half a dozen pensive compositions by trumpeter Jens Winther, complements recent enterprises by SWR showcasing the talents of Bob Florence, Phil ...
read moreThe SWR Big Band Live!: Plays the Music of Maria Schneider / Kurt Weill
by Jack Bowers
Setting aside for the moment the question of her proficiency as a composer / arranger / conductor, one must concede that Maria Schneider is either a crackerjack (self)–promoter or has one of the best agents in the business. Ten photographs are included with this two–CD set, which was recorded in concert in May 2000 with Germany’s SWR Big Band, and Schneider appears in every one of them, while the liner notes warmly chronicle her musical development from the age of ...
read moreThe SWR Big Band with Clark Terry: Jazz Matinee
by Jack Bowers
The irrepressible Clark Terry was a spry seventy–seven years old when this “Jazz Matinee” was recorded three years ago in Stuttgart, Germany. To hear him — on trumpet, flugelhorn or singing — is to summon forth images of a much younger man, so infectious is his boundless energy and unfailing good humor. About the latter, drummer Louie Bellson once said: “There has to be something wrong with anybody who can’t get along with Clark Terry.” As to his playing, Miles ...
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