While they don’t tour as regularly as during the Swing Era, modern big bands still flourish via recordings. Here are some nice samples…
Bob Washut writes and arranges the material for this album as he conducts a big band which includes a dapper sounding Bobby Shew on trumpet. The pieces have a nice modern sound, with excellent section work. Peter Sommer’s tenor is warm on the suave and bluesy “Melt Down” and adds a deft flute along with Paul McKee’s trombone on the mystical “3 for McKee.” Dana Landry’s piano is stately on the lilting “A Nod to Ahmad” and autumnal during “Nora Rae” while the sections punch like a middleweight on “Malecon.” Nice mix of charts and chops.
Director and pianist Kathrine Windfeld brings together an ensemble to perform compositions by tenor saxist Thomas Agergaard. The album consists of two Suites and a handful of stand alone tunes. “US 1 Suite” has some Gil Evansy harmonies along with some edgy pitches provided by the sax section, while “US 2 Suite” includes a mix of rock beates, rapid bop beats and elliptical guitar phrasing by Viktor Sandstrom. Agergaard’s soft tenor floats on the title track, while his alto flute is soft during “Different Corner.” Strong and creative new material.
Satoko Fujii leads an orchestra through five of her own pieces. The band has two drummers in Michael Griener and Peter Orins, supplying a free pulse that carries the thick and thunderously swinging saxes of Matthias Schubert/ts, Gebhard Ullman/ts and Paulina Owczarek/bs on “Unexpected Incident” and the rumbling “ Oops!”. The 4 piece brass section gallops along with the feisty percussion during “On the Way” with the band mixing shrill and bright punctuations with velvet harmonies on “Follow the Idea.” Loose, free yet accessible.