Nagel Heyer

Nagel Heyer All-Stars: Uptown Lowdown: A Salute to the Big Apple

by Jack Bowers
March 1, 2001

This earnest homage to New York City, recorded in concert during the city’s 1999 JVC Jazz Festival, opens charmingly with half a dozen great old Ellington tunes, each of which depicts musically an aspect of life in Harlem. After that, trumpeter Randy Sandke’s never–quite–a–big–band embarks on a whirlwind tour of the city with stops at Chinatown, Washington Square, Broadway, Park Avenue, 42nd and 52nd Streets, Times Square and Grand Central Station before climbing aboard the celebrated “‘A’ Train.” The opening ...