Composer Mica Bithea leads a big band through a mix of his creative originals as well as a couple standards, with the two disc set comprising the same songs, but with one in a studio and the other in a concert setting. The band gets funky on a take of an R&Bish read of Herbie Hancock’s “Hang Up Your Hangups” as well as Beghea’s own “Frahm Out of Nowhere” with some nice solos by Mike Emmert/bari-cl and Joshua Bowlus/p. Some nice soulful bop gets bluesy with Dodd DelGiudice’s alto sax on “Jonesin’ For Thad” and a nice samba slithers on a clever read of “Stormy Weather” with Linda Cole’s vocals. The only major difference between the concert and studio versions, besides a couple personnel changes, is that the “live” show exudes a tad more adrenaline and punch, but both are quite satisfying demonstrations of big band joys.