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Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra
Whether a 17-member big band, quartet, septet, or small group, the SJMO presents concerts featuring transcribed works, new arrangements, commissioned works and programs that illuminate the work of jazz masters who contributed to the development of American jazz and defined the music’s character.
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Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra: Bernstein Reimagined
by Jack Bowers
This impressive anthology by the superb Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra is not so much Bernstein Reimagined as Bernstein Unleashed. The jazz component in Leonard Bernstein's memorable compositions for symphony orchestra, Broadway shows, films and even liturgical works always lay simmering just below the surface. As Bernstein is said to have confided to Duke Ellington: Maybe that's really the difference between us. You write symphonic jazz, and I write jazz symphonies." However credible the remark, there is no doubt that the ...
read moreThe Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra: Tribute to a Generation: A Salute to the Big Bands of the WWII Era
by Bob Jacobson
Read the subtitle of this album and you probably won't be disappointed. Look over the song list. Understand that these tunes do not include vocals. Issued to coincide with the recent unveiling of the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., Tribute to a Generation features tunes made famous by Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Benny Carter and Glenn Miller.This album bears the hallmarks of the best Swing Era bands: tight ensemble playing, ...
read moreThe Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra explores the vast, diverse repertoire of legendary composer Leonard Bernstein on stunning, revelatory new album
Source:
All About Jazz
Legendary composer Leonard Bernstein once called jazz “the ultimate common denominator of the American musical style.” The music made a profound impact on Bernstein’s work, not only in the more explicit “jazziness” of his work in musical theater, but throughout his “serious” orchestral music as well. Jazz artists in turn felt the influence of Bernstein’s innovations, with interpretations of his work recorded by such icons as Bill Evans, Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, Wes Montgomery, Wayne Shorter and countless others. With ...
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Dream With Me
From: Bernstein ReimaginedBy Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra