Home » Jazz Musicians » The Ed Palermo Big Band Discography

On No! Not Jazz!!

The Ed Palermo Big Band

Label: Cuneiform Records
Released: 2014
Views: 663

Tracks

1. Inca Roads (feat. Napoleon Murphy Brock) 10:49

2. The Uncle Meat Variations 06:01

3. Little Umbrellas 04:45

4. The Dog Breath Variations 06:56

5. Chunga’s Revenge 05:34

6. Lumpy Gravy 04:50

7. The Black Page #2 05:48

8. America Drinks And Goes Home (feat. Mike James) 05:14

9. Moosh 06:12

10. Prelude To an Insult 03:48

11. Why Is the Doctor Barking? 05:49

12. Prelude To a Catastrophe 00:50

13. A Catastrophe (Is Just Around the Corner) 05:22

14. Let’s Reproduce 05:23

15. An Escape Nonetheless 09:06

16. Nostalgia Revisited (for Susan) 06:29

17. The Insult 09:58

18. Good Night, Everybody! God Love Ya! 05:29

19. She’s So Heavy 02:02

Personnel

The Ed Palermo Big Band

band / ensemble / orchestra

Additional Personnel / Information

Ed Palermo: bandleader, arranger, composer

Paul Adamy: electric bass, webmeister

Ray Marchica: drums

Bob Quaranta: acoustic piano

Ted Kooshian: electrified keyboards

Bruce McDaniel: guitar, vocals

Katie Jacoby: violin

Cliff Lyons: lead alto sax, clarinet

Phil Chester: 2nd alto sax, flute, piccolo, soprano sax

Bill Straub: lead tenor sax, clarinet, soprano sax solo on “An Escape Nonetheless”

Ben Kono: 2nd tenor sax, flute, oboe

Barbara Cifelli: baritone sax, Eb mutant clarinet, bass clarinet

Charles Gordon: lead trombone

Joe Fiedler: 2nd trombone

Matt Ingman: bass trombone, tuba player

Ronnie Buttacavoli: lead trumpet

John Hines: 2nd trumpet

Bonnie Buttacavoli: 3rd trumpet

Bonnie Hines: 4th trumpet

Special Guests:

Napoleon Murphy Brock: vocals on “Inca Roads”

John Palermo: mandolin on “The Black Page,” “Dog Breath Variations,” “Inca Roads,” “Let's Reproduce,” “Lumpy Gravy” and “Prelude To a Catastrophe”

Gary Schreiner: accordion on “Chunga’s Revenge”

Mike James: vocals, complaints, and liver spots on “America Drinks” and “Good Night, Everybody”

Producer: Bruce McDaniel

Recorded at Peaceful Waters Studio. Engineer: Wayne Warnecke

Mixing, additional engineering, and mastering by Bruce McDaniel at Rock Ridge Recording.

Artwork by Nancy Palermo.

Photos: all selfies by the Ed Palermo Big Band.

Tracks #1-8: Compositions by Frank Zappa. Arranged by Ed Palermo

Tracks #9-19: Compositions by Ed Palermo except: “Moosh” (David Leone) “She’s So Heavy” (Lennon & McCartney)

Arranged by Ed Palermo

Album Description

"Palermo developed these charts during years of live shows with these musicians, and their mastery of the material shows in the performances, which turn on a dime yet feel fierce with spontaneous invention.... Palermo’s arrangements and these performances are precise, dedicated, raucous and incisive—just like Zappa himself." – JazzTimes

The Ed Palermo Big Band is led by alto saxist and arranger Ed Palermo; he has had this big band with much of the same personnel for over 30 years, which is a hugely impressive feat in itself, and has had his band performing the music of Frank Zappa for 20 years.

The band is a 18 piece ensemble of five woodwind players, four trumpeters, three trombonists, two keyboardists, guitar, violin, bass and drum. There are a number of ensembles performing the music of Frank Zappa, who, 20 years after his death, is now recognized as one of the greatest American composers of the 20th century, but no one does it with the ease, skill and originality that Ed and his band do!

'Oh No! Not Jazz!!' consists of two albums of musical performances. The first album (tracks 1-8) further explores Ed's distinctive, big band interpretations of the music of Frank Zappa and for the most part, he concentrates here on Frank's initial burst of creative works from original Mothers Of Invention era of 1966-1970. In addition, two notable pieces are performed here. One of Frank's most loved works, Inca Roads, with a vocal by guest Napoleon Murphy Brock contrasts with one of his most 'notoriously difficult' works, The Black Page #2. All of the performances and arrangements of these great pieces are fun, musically witty and masterful. The second album (tracks 9-19) features Ed's own colorful compositions, which are here featured on a recording for the 1st time in over 25 years!

This double album shows that despite the financial and practical difficulties of running a large sized band, that the very fact that there are so many musical voices in a big band allows for showcasing arrangements better than any other vehicle. This is an exciting listen for fans of Frank Zappa and all adventurous rock and jazz music.

< Previous
One Child Left Behind

Next >
Electric Butter: The Ed Palermo Big B...