Album Review: Islands from Dan Bonsanti and 14 Jazz Orchestra
Album: Islands Artist: Dan Bonsanti and 14 Jazz Orchestra Label: Self-Released Website: https://www.14jazzorchestra.com/new-release---islands.html Islands , the 2023 release from composer and arranger Dan Bonsanti and his band, the 14 Jazz Orchestra, is a collection of swinging, big band jazz arrangements with 11 straight-ahead jazz tunes that merge big band bubbles with adult contemporary easiness, nuanced in jazz-imbued elegance. Textured in jaunty keys liaised with smooth horns and cruising rhythmic beats, the recording fills the listener with pleasurable sensations that last from start to finish. A feel good recording, Bonsanti and his orchestra attain a state of enjoyment achieved by the likes of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and the Guy Lombardo Big Band. The warm aesthetics emanating from the horns along "Part of Me" bathe the listener in cozy atmospherics, then traverse into a bossa nova shimmy across "Carmencita," written by Mike Levine, B...