jazz2love

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...

Album:  On the Sunny Side Artist:  Interplay Jazz Orchestra Label:  Self-Released Website:  www.interplayjazzorchestra.com Big Band jazz is alive and percolating amply on Interplay Jazz Orchestra's latest release On the Sunny Side .  Co-directed by trumpet player Gary Henderson and trombonist Joey Devassy, the Long Island, New York-based Interplay Jazz Orchestra perform original compositions with arrangements written by several members of the band, in addition to performing a handful of jazz standards.  Recorded at the Bunker Studios in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the assortment roars with rambling horns that swing fervidly while also being able to caress the listener's ears with majestic serenades on Jay Orig's piano keys and sentimental soliloquies played by the trombones and saxophones.  There is something for every side of the spectrum that engages the human spirit. Ballroom swing in the style of bandleaders like Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller can b...