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WDR Big Band

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Album Review

Steve Gadd, Eddie Gomez, Ronnie Cuber, WDR Big Band: Center Stage

Read "Center Stage" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Mixed emotions must underline this review. Center Stage, featuring bassist Eddie Gomez, drummer Steve Gadd and baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber with Germany's superb WDR Big Band conducted by Michael Abene, was recorded in Cologne in January and February 2022. Sadly, Ronnie Cuber passed away in October, shortly after the album was released. If this was Cuber's last hurrah, it thunders loudly above the rooftops, as his solos (on each of the album's nine numbers) and melodic passages ...

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Recording

Michael Abene With the WDR Big Band

Michael Abene With the WDR Big Band

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

There are big bands, and then there are big bands. Among the best in the world now is the WDR Big Band in Germany. The band's roots date back to August 1946, a year after World War II ended. What a joyous feeling that must have been to play jazz after nearly a decade of misery, brutal terror and the horrors of Nazi cult rule and murderous insanity. WDR stands for West German Broadcasting (WDR), which is based in Cologne, ...

Video / DVD

Video: Joan Chamorro and the WDR Big Band

Video: Joan Chamorro and the WDR Big Band

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Earlier this week, Kurt Kolstad send along an email that included a link to the following clip. In May, Germany's WDR Big Band performed Darn That Dream, arranged and conducted by Joan Chamorro, the musical director of the Sant Andreu Jazz Band in Barcelona, Spain. Alba Esteban (below) of the Sant Andreu Jazz Band, performed the baritone saxophone solo with grace and beauty. Frankly, it's one of the most endearing ballad solos on the instrument that I've heard in some ...

1

Video / DVD

WDR Big Band: 'Watching the River Flow'

WDR Big Band: 'Watching the River Flow'

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

I almost never post on music that isn't out yet, but when I received this video clip last night from Michael Bloom, I couldn't wait. The clip features Germany's WDR Big Band conducted and arranged by Michael Abene, with drummer Steve Gadd, bassist Eddie Gomez and baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber. Soloists are Karolina Strassmayer on alto saxophone, Ronnie on baritone, Bruno Müller on piano and Eddie on bass. They're playing Michael Abene's arrangement of Bob Dylan's Watching the River Flow. ...

1

Recording

Trombonist/Composer Marshall Gilkes To Release Köln Featuring The WDR Big Band

Trombonist/Composer Marshall Gilkes To Release Köln Featuring The WDR Big Band

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

On February 10, 2015, trombonist/composer Marshall Gilkes proudly releases his fourth album as a leader, simply titled for the home base of The WDR Big Band, KÖLN. This set of stunning compositions marks Gilkes first recording fronting a big band, but he is no stranger to this setting, being a regular member of Maria Schneider's Grammy Award-winning orchestra, (Schneider describes him as, “one of those musicians who continually just drops my jaw and leaves me shaking my head in disbelief"), ...

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Interview

WDR Big Band/Lucas Schmid Interview

WDR Big Band/Lucas Schmid Interview

Source: All About Jazz

Working with Hiram Bullock & McCoy Tyner. This interview is part of the book project “under your skin" which will include Interviews with: Anthony Braxton, Ornette Coleman, Cindy Blackman, Taj Mahal, Yusef Lateef, Sadat X, Les Nubians, Zap Mama, Bob James, Skip Mcdonald, Erika Stucky, Living Colour, Dj Rob Swift, ...

Music

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