Album Review: The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful from The Jeff Benedict Big Big Band
Album: The Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful Artist: The Jeff Benedict Big Big Band Label: Groovy Panda Records Website: marooncreekmusic.com The Jeff Benedict Big Big Band are ringing in 2021 with their second offering The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful. Produced by the band's leader Jeff Benedict, the recording is a lively assortment of original compositions by Benedict interspersed with five of his arrangements of American standards. Benedict builds on the Big Band harmonies of Guy Lombardo and Lawrence Welk and modernizes the format for present generations. He creates a contemporary montage relatable to the vigorous churning and robust surges of Rich Willey's Boptism Big Band, the One O'Clock Lab Band, and Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra. The recording opens with one of Benedict's original numbers "Moonscape," a sizzling arrangement featuring the billowing puffs and swerving doodles of trombonist Paul and tenor saxophon...