One of the few artists to keep together a viable big band for almost a quarter century, Gordon Goodwin showed that he’s still going strong, having recently recorded a clever album of material by Raymond Scott and recently getting nominated for three Grammy’s.
Most amazing is that through the decades, Goodwin still had a handful of the original 2001 band in Wayne Bergeron/tp, Brian Scanlon/ts, Andy Martin/tb, Sal Lozano/ts-ss, Francisco Torres/tb as well as long time members Kevin Axt/b and Joe DeLeon/perc. Along with the newer members of the band, they, and the packed house of fans for the 1 ½ hour show, stay loyal to Goodwin due to the accessible sounds, clever charts and all around energy exuded by the leader both during and between the songs.
The evening had something for just about everyone, with things starting off with a funk fest inspired by Tower of Power, with Scanlon’s tenor roaring through the bold brass on “T.O.B” before vocalist Vangie Gunn hopped on staged for an upbeat wordless scat on the festive Latin “Everywhere You Look”. She later did a gorgeous intimate and passionate take of “The Very Thought Of You” with rich piano support by Good and then wound up and delivered a soulful and slinky big band take of “Summertime” with tenorist Alex Hahn blowing smoke rings.
For the traditional swing fans, bassist Kevin Axt produced a hip line for a Basie-inspired “Blues For Greg” with Goodwin adding dewdrops of ivory around Jay Mason’s baritone sax. The trumpet section plunged and pierced through the hot finger popping “Clean It Up” while the sax section sounded like a Saturday morning cartoon fest on the wild “ Hunting Wabbits”. The rhythm section dug a deep rivulet on the boogalooing “ Back Room Politics” and things closed out with a sizzling “Swinging For The Fences” that showed that after 23 years, Goodwin can still hit it out of the park.
Upcoming shows at Catalina’s include Steve Tyrell 11/24-25, Steve Gadd 12/07-10, David Benoit 12/15 and Jane Monheit 12/17