Like Big Band? Want To Blow Your Ears with Real Dynamics?

[olds1959special]

Charlie "Mad Mab" Barnet (1912-1991) started integrating his national known band with Roy Eldridge, John Kirby and Frankie Newton in 1937.

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Born on my birthday 2 days ago! Seth MacFarlane too!

 

[Soandso]

Nat King Cole broke a USA color barrier in 1946-1947 with his weekly NBC radio show "King Cole Trio Time" and then in 1948 appearing on the first episode of a CBS 1/2 hour television talk show called "We The People". Starting in 1949 the host of what came to be known as The Ed Sullivan Show (originally "Toast of the Town") defied his television show's sponsors repeatedly bringing him onstage to musically perform. Below is a picture of the 2 men together sometime in the 1950s before their falling out.

 

[olds1959special]

Listen to how soft this sounds in the beginning, and then...

 

[Martini]

 

[Soandso]

"Lafayette" was recorded in 1932 with pianist Bennie Moten's (1893-1935) ensemble. He's pictured below with the song's co-writer band's 2nd pianist a young 28 year old William "Count" Basie (1904-1984) along with this tunes 3rd co-writer the respected music arranger guitarist/trombonist Eddie Durham (1906-1987). If the song sounds like "hot music" to you maybe you'll recognize 23 year young saxophonist Ben Webster (1909-1973), the 24 year old trumpeter Oran "Hot Lips" Page, and among others the 23 year old clarinetist/saxophonist Edward "Eddie" Barefield (1909-1991) [whose own arrangements went on to drive jazz bands of Whiteman, Goodman, Dorsey, Miller, and Jaquet.]

 

[Soandso]

Justifiably acclaimed and recipient of 1987's Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award multi-talented Bennett "Benny" Carter (1907-2003) recorded "Back Bay Boogie" in 1941. If you like it then give a listen to that record's "A" side titled "Sunday".

 

[olds1959special]

Justifiably acclaimed and recipient of 1987's Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award multi-talented Bennett "Benny" Carter (1907-2003) recorded "Back Bay Boogie" in 1941. If you like it then give a listen to that record's "A" side titled "Sunday".

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Saw an ad for his concert shortly before he died but spaced it out and never went. Regret that

 

[Martini]

With a latin swing!

 

[Soandso]

"Dizzy" Gillespie formed his own big band in 1946 and they recorded "OW!" in 1947. The song's title refers to years earlier when prankster Dizzy's ("that cat's dizzy") fellow Cab Calloway band members got even with him placing up-turned metal thumb tacks on his chair which he sat on only to jump up exclaiming "Ow!"

 

[FrantzM]

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band

 

[Soandso]

In 1969 the Big Band with USA drummer Kenny "Klook" Clarke (1914-1985) and French pianist Francois "Francy" Boland (1929-2005) were recorded performing in a London venue the delightful song "Rue Chaptal."

 

[LTig]

Watch the great movie Whiplash for a start into Big Band Jazz. Or a recording by Maynard Ferguson for disco style

In September I was on a free open air concert of the Big Band der Bundeswehr (German defense forces). They had 3 guest singers and 2 drummers and played not only Jazz but also Pop/Rock songs by Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel. It was very good.

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

Jimmy Lunceford (1902-1947) led an extremely popular big band as a swing saxophonist.

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Lunceford's band could swing harder than most any other. They weren't in the same class as Basie or Ellington but still very fun to listen to.

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

 

[Soandso]

Bob Crosby (1913-1993) was Bing's little brother and had extensive popularity with both a Big Band and his smaller combo "The Bobcats". Here's a big band 1936 instrumental recording titled "Sugar Foot Stomp" that moves so well at 1:55 into it a cry goes out "Oh play that thing!"

 

[Soandso]

Extremely popular with the public in it's protracted hey-day The Casa Loma Orchestra which formed in 1929 was known among jazz musicians as a 100% musically proficient assemblage producing tight renditions. A suggested introductory to them is the well known song "I Got Rhythm".

 

[jp4573]

 

[Soandso]

Claude Thornhill (1909-1965) a pianist composer/arranger formed his Big Band in 1939. He's quoted as saying of it:

An introduction to his take on the Big Band is the song "Elevation". See bellow the french horn section he was known for including.

Another famous composer (Gil Evans) once noted Thornhill's music "…hung like a cloud" which can be heard in the song "Puttin' And A Takin".

I've more Claude Thornhill in my playlist but will close here by mentioning his rise to popular attention was when arranged the hit song "Loch Loman". Other ASR members might first recall it being Maxine Sullivan singing "… you'll take the high road, and I'll take the low road. And I'll be in Scotland before you. Where me and my true love will never meet again, On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomand." Below is Thornhill (standing at left) with Maxine Sullivan (seated) surrounded by the huge number of clarinetists he was known to favor and a few brass musicians arrayed around her (I'm not sure if that's Thornhill's collaborating composer Gil Evans standing at right). It is a clearly promotional picture; she does not actually sing on that screen shot's delightfully whimsical song "Stack of Barley".

 

[Soandso]

Isham Jones (1894-1956) had a very important early dance hall Big Band. As popular tastes gravitated toward swing music dancing that historically over shadowed Isham Jones music so that for many today he's lost in time.Nibe-the-less in 1989 he was inducted into the Big Band Hall of Fame.

Although his band's musical style is decidedly dated to a long dead audience here's one song with a good surviving recording of it which I think you'll like; it's titled "Jimetown Blues". [My interpretation of the obscure prefix "jime" is an early 1920s slang variant (Isham Jones grew up in the north Michigan melting pot of immigrants Saginaw) for "jive" known to be referring then to lively jazz which later became popularized in the Harlem slang word "jive" referring to foolish aspects. Thus here "jimetown" was a place to get the "blues"quickly.]

The first screenshot shows my own Deezer playlist entry for Jimetown Blues although the pictured record disk illustration is not for the actual song. Following that is a photo of his Big Band with the musicians names.

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

Wild Root - Woody Herman.