The BLO is lead by Alex Budman/ts-ss-bcl and Jeremy Levy/composer-arr-tb and together they deliver a big band filled with reeds, brass, rhythm and rich ideas. Levy likes to have fun with the brass section and uses it as the driving force on the grooved “95 or 64” as well as the sepia mooded “Idle Time.” The rhythm team gets into a full canto on the exciting “Zona Mona” which also features Budman on tenor as well as David Hughes on bass. Some lovely pastoral flutes team up with Andy Langham’s melodic and Andrew Synowiec’s guitar during the attractive title track and the band shows it’s Latin tinge on the percussive “The Other One.” A string quartet surrounds Budman’s bass clarinet on the flowing “Waiting” and the charts pop out at you in 3d on the energetic “Slings and Arrows.” A nice mix of excitement and thoughtfulness.
OA2 Records