Did anyone else get the irony of an all female ensemble playing “Broad” way? Badda bump!
The swinging double X big band doesn’t need the unique moniker to get any attention, as music director/drummer Sherrie Maricle leads a team that holds its own very well, thank you. Her rhythm team includes Noriko Ueda/b and Tomoko Ohno/p as well as an impressive horn section boasting no less than Roxy Coss/ts-cl.
The selection of songs, as well as the arrangements make for enjoyable intake, as Coss and flugelhornist/trumpeterJami Dauber ride over the shuffle of “Heart” and are luminous with the horn section during “Pure Imagination”. Of the trombonists, Rachel Therrien’s glistens on the Gil Evansish “Oh, What A Beautiful Morning”, Sara Jacovino is dark and moody on “With Every Step I Take” and teams up with Leslie Haven on the fun New Orleans’d “Seventy Six Trombones”. Ueda is suave working around the deft horn jabs of “The Man I Love” and alto saxists Mercedes Beckman and Alexa Tarantino ride Maricle’s charge on “Get Me To The Church On Time”. Charts with a heart.