jazz2love

  New Release:  Vagabond from Royce Campbell and the Vosbein Magee Big Band Label: Max Frank Music Release Date: April 21, 2025 Label Website: maxfrankmusic.com/catalog/vagabond Guitarist Royce Campbell is joined by the Vosbein Magee Big Band, directed by Terry Vosbein on Vagabond .  The music is iconic big band jazz with all tracks composed by Royce Campbell, except for “Body and Soul,” which was composed by Edward Heyman, Frank Eyton, John Green, and Robert Sour.   The arrangements are done by Carroll DeCamp, who is Royce Campbell's uncle.  The scores have a traditional bopping rhythm, sprinkled in blazing horns that swing and surge, as Matthew Billings's piano keys join with jaunty interludes and Campbell's guitar slides across with billowy riffs.  Having performed with such legendary artists as Gene Bertoncini, Bucky Pizzarelli, Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughn, Dave Brubeck, Jimmy Cobb, Rosemary Clooney, Henry Mancini, and Ken Poplowski, Royce Campbell tap...

Interview with Sherrie Maricle, the drummer of 3D Jazz Trio and the Diva Jazz Orchestra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSy8Gesnh2s Clip is provided courtesy of Kari-On Productions

Album:  Puttin' On The Ritz Artist:  Rich Willey Label: Boptism Music Website: boptism.com/store Composer, arranger, and bandleader Rich Willey leads a big band of strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion instruments through a setlist of original scores alongside jazz standards and modern jewels in the rough in his offering Puttin' on the Ritz .  Part of the recording concentrates on Willey's acumen to parlay modern tunes into big band gems, giving Frank Zappa and George Duke's blues rock melody "Uncle Remus" a sophisticated sheen balancing recurring motifs with improvised passages. Playing the trumpet, bass trumpet, valve trombone, tuba and Electronic Valve Instrument (EVI), Willey demonstrates multiple facets in his musicianship.  Sometimes jumbling the horns like in sections of "Uncle Remus" and sometimes creating ambient swells like in "Song for Janet," dedicated to his wife.  One of Willey's original works, "Holy Trinity,...

Album:  DIVA Swings Broadway Artist: The DIVA Jazz Orchestra Label: DIVA Jazz Website:  https://divajazz.com/ The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, a 15-piece all female ensemble, is comprised of versatile musicians seasoned in reed, woodwind and brass instruments as well as rhythmic and percussive tools.  The group's latest CD entitled DIVA Swings Broadway is an assortment of covers showcasing nostalgic Broadway musicals personalized by these innovative musicians.  Led by drummer Sherrie Maricle, the DIVA Jazz Orchestra are torchbearers of swing jazz and big band romps.  Bursting with merriment from start to finish, the recording leaves elation and mirth in its wake. Noriko Ueda's bass solo opening George and Ira Gershwin's ageless tune "The Man I Love" sets the momentum along a course of rolling crests and ebbs through the melodic progressions.  Horns take flight intermittently, catapulted by the knolls crafted by the bass line.  Turning reflective, the languid ...

Album:  The Brite Side Artist:  Horizons Jazz Orchestra Label:  Pineapple Arts Management Website:  https://horizonsjazzorchestra.com Merriment galore, Horizons Jazz Orchestra's latest release The Brite Side is a celebration of the works of Lee Harris,  a revered baritone saxophonist, composer, arranger, and bandleader.  The orchestra's re-imagination of five originals by Harris and his arrangements of five jazz standards give audiences insight into the magnificence Harris brought out in musicians using the big band format.   Brimming with bright, flashy horns, the recording embraces swing and ballroom jazz in a way that is both nostalgic and contemporary. From the first track, the recording puts listeners in an upbeat mood with the flashing horns blazing through 'Red Apple Sweet" to the shuffling drumbeats coruscating "After You've Gone, Finally."  The musicians show a love of life that is palpable.  The creamy texture of the horns spla...

Album Review:  Together from Randy Brecker and Mats Holmquist with the UMO Jazz Orchestra Label:  Summit Records Website:  www.matsholmquist.com and www.randybrecker.com Inspired by the jazz improvisations of Stan Kenton and Chick Corea, trumpet player Randy Brecker and arranger Mats Holmquist collaborate with the 18-piece UMO Jazz Orchestra from Finland for Together from Summit Records.  The jazz instrumentals have a modern flare with influences of vintage swing and Big Band magnetism.  Oscillating between rambunctious interplay and fluid swells, the music shows the band's agility and instinct to elaborate  from each other's phrases.  From a single instrument's chord pattern, other threads emerge forming a tapestry that is never-ending.  Beefy arrangements are produced as each instrument adds to the compositions, extending the overall body of work. Instruments bounce off of one another, adding whorls and trills producing an ornate interweav...

Album Review:  Lab 2018/The Rhythm of the Road from the One O' Clock Lab Band Label:  North Texas Jazz Website:  www.theoneoclock.com and www.jazz.unt.edu The One O'Clock Lab Band presents lounge music in the form of Big Band fashion on their latest recording The Rhythm of the Road from North Texas Jazz music label.  Track after track showcases the rip-roaring stylizing of swing, mirroring the era of 1950's jazz.  Melodic and frolicking, each arrangement has an uplifting vibe displaying the positive moods that jazz music projects. From the ambling strides of "Train" to the scampering shuffle of "Hey, It's Me You're Talking To," the One O'Clock Lab Band moves between chord changes with complete aplomb and ease.  Each track is superbly glazed with swing-imbued attributes from the burlesque-inspired strut of the horns along "Blues for Kazu" to the torchlight trimmings of "A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing."  The latter fe...