Big BAnd Music - Which?

Ive been listening to some Duke Ellington, Benny Goodwin etc on Cds from the library and some MP3s from the Net. The music is excellent and exciting but I feel that the recordings that I have listened to haven't done the spaciousness and dynamics of the music justice.

I wonder if anyone can recommend a CD that wraps you up in the excitement of a big band concert.

 

Get a copy of the cowboy bebop OST - https://www.audio-forums.com/as-rediect/showthread.php?t=15692

Unfortunatly I have removed the files now but this CD is good - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cowboy-Bebo...555606?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1175978962&sr=1-11

It also has some stuff that is not big band but it still very good, all acoustic and well recorded.

 

Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, The Dorsey Brothers, Glenn Millar, Louis Armstrong, All good stuff, Avoid sid Lawrence would be my best advise, If you want Big Band Swing its got to be from across the pond.

 

Look for the Danish Radio Big Band

 

Anybody got recs for Japanese big band? IMO there is just something about Japanese jazz!

 

I bought Andy Sheppards "Soft on the inside" from Deans excellent record sale on here - thanks for having some great taste!. I used to have this on CD but it was one of those you lend out then never get back. Its Andy Sheppards take on a big band assembled from some awesome jazz talent. Each musician picked to counterpoint the other. Sometimes its a challenging listen but always underpinned with andy's stunning sax, it ranges from toe tapping to engrossing to avant garde. It really makes your set up sound terrific, as ther is just so much going on with this album, great close harmony and soaring solo work. 4 slow building and amazing tracks. Its on the Antilles label - Recommended highly!!!!

 

This may be looked at as being not 'quite the thing' but I have a recording of Phil Collins Big Band. It has nothing to do with Genesis or such music but wow - what an album.

I feel the seriously bad vibes from the jazz world heading my way....

To mitigate that, my daughter (at uni in Scotland) is playing jazz events throughout the UK with Phil Collins NOT appearing on her set list.

Listen to the album with an open mind.

 

Nothing wrong with a bit of Phil Collins! Some of the jazzy bits on 'but seriously' are pretty good.

The people who make the wooden bodies for my acoustic treatments made some custom speaker cabinets for Phil’s studio too which is pretty cool IMO! Lead lined apparently.

 

I had a listen to Jools Holland - Swinging the blues - Dancing the Ska. It was a really envigorating listen. SHMBO reckons its good music to do the cleaning to - Vacuum Cleaning!!!!

 

OK, you need to get Basie Atomic for a start... I'll have a think about some others

 

Thanks lordsummit Ive just Amazoned it.

 

All the Basie/Sinatra collaborations are essential, particularly Sinatra at the Sands (arrangements by Quincy Jones). Look for any Oliver Nelson big band arrangements too (e.g. Joyride by Stanley Turrentine), Basie band meets Ellington band (I think the record is called First Time) is excellent. In a more modern vein the Jaco Pastorius big band (Birthday Concert, Invitation) is fab.

Enjoy!

 

Not sure whether they're real big band, but I love these two:
Oliver Nelson The Blues and the abstract truth and Gil Evans out of the cool. They're both a bit more way out there than Basie though.
Let us know how you get on with that one, then we'll try and find some more of them

 

Just got Duke Ellingtond 70th Birthday. Recorded in the UK I think by Granada Studios in the 70's great recording and as the band come in the soundstage grows and grows. I used it at the recent hifi show a Heathrow. It went down well. It's made me start lookning and asking for more so I'll be following this thread.

 

Arrived today, Amazon is truly amazing - Thanks

A brilliant CD fast becoming a favourite. Sound quality excellent and music fantastic superb arrangements.
Thanks lordsummit

 

Jazz ... and Phil Collins ... ... I need a drink.

 

Bingo Miki and the Inner Galaxy Orchestra - Cool cats seem to hate this, but some of his work is pretty good and free...
Shibushirazu - free-form big band jazz-funk. Music to buto to... Excellent

 

I haven't heard Cowboy Bebop and Amazon are now listing it for £28.99!

As a big band nut (and player) here are some of my favourites:

Billy May - Big Fat Brass - wonderfully thick and brassy arrangements - he uses french horns instead of saxes for that extra brassy feel
Bob Mintzer - Old School - New Lessons - some nice tunes well played
Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band - Swinging' for the Fences - all of Gordon Goodwin's CDs are absolutely at the cutting edge of big band writing and playing - fences is my favourite but XXL and Big Phat Pack are also some of the best playing out there today.
Maynard Ferguson - MF Horn 4&5 Live at Jimmy's, Carnival, New Vintage - Live at Jimmy's is widely thought to be Maynard's best big band recording and has just been re-released. Bravura trumpet at it's best.
NYJO - Hallmark - The (UK's) National Youth Jazz Orchestra - still going strong after decades. These kids play with real spirit. This is one of my favourite from the early 1990s.
Wayne Bergeron - You Call This a Living? - amazing trumpet playing from the first-call lead trumpet in Hollywood.
Buddy Rich - Big Swing Face - a classic
Dave Holland - Overtime - lovely interesting arrangements and tight ensemble playing
Kenny Wheeler - Music for Large & Small Ensembles - beautiful arrangements and playing
Kyle Eastwood - From There to Here - tuneful bass-led big band using some of the top US players
Maria Schneider - Allegresse - beautiful and interesting arrangements with sometime long and complex structure like all her work
Miles Davis - Aura - Miles Davis with a Danish Big Band and a full range of electronic backup
Stan Kenton - The Innovations Orchestra - cutting edge innovation from the 50s - nothing else really compares.
Thad Jones & Mel Lewis - Consummation, Live at the Village Vanguard - classic big band playing with a star-packed band
Count Basie - The Complete Atomic Basie - a classic
Ellington - Complete at Newport - another classic

If you like the squeely trumpets check out Paul Cacia's CDs at www.cdbaby.com I'm not brave enough to order any of them yet!

And a quick plug for my band - there is no substitute for hearing a band live - next gig is Sunday 29th April at the The White Hart, Stepney, London. More at www.kinggroovy.com.



Steve

 

Hmm, I just got this CD as well and am not very impressed. Poor recordings and boring music I guess I don't like standard big band.

The stuff Joel suggested was more interesting but still not quite my thing.

 

Oh dear Simon, you've just rubbished one of the greatest Jazz bands of all time and one of their seminal albums. Poor recordings? They're stunning man, it's a columbia original, just two crossed mikes probably. I've never understood why when things were so right they had to mess with things and make the horrible in your face mulit-miked recordings we get now. If you go and hear a big band that is what they sound like, not like many modern recordings where every trumpet has a mike and they shove it right in the bell.

still each to his own