Nice write up AndyT - thanks for sharing!!! Man, you just added way to many new artists to my list for checking out. Thanks - always nice to have some new options for exploring new big band work.

I know Christian McBride just came out with a big band CD as well. I haven't picked had a chance to pick it up yet, but I've enjoyed most of his work so I plan on checking it out.

Agree with Mr. Pink - a very fine write up indeed.

Now if you check the posts in September 2011 Issue section you will see the following post:

jazzfan wrote:

A very big thank you to Robert Baird for the feature on Gerald Wilson. This piece such go a long way in helping to give some much needed and well deserved exposure to Mr. Wilson and his music.

I have just a few very minor nits to pick. As stated in the piece big band jazz has been sadly overlooked in the US but that luckily that is not the case elsewhere. There are several very good jazz orchestras in Europe, all with long recording and performance histories. To name a few of the more well known ones:

Vienna Art Orchestra - Started in 1977 by Mathias Rüegg the VAO has a long history of recording and playing. The VAO is perhaps the best example of a modern jazz orchestra in the 21st century.

The Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra - another long running ensemble. While their output is nowhere near as extensive as that of the VAO, this orchestra, lead by the great German pianist and band leader Alexander von Schlippenbach, plays jazz in slightly more adventurous vein than that of the VAO.

Italian Instabile Orchestra - another one of the more adventurous European ensembles, this group is favorite of many creative musicians looking for a group of talented musicians willing to give voice to their orchestral compositions.

The Instant Composers Pool (or ICP) - this Amsterdam based ensemble was the brain child of Dutch pianist Misha Mengelberg back in 1967 and seen many of the finest creative musicians in Europe and the USA pass through it ranks in its 40 plus year history. Their recordings are all too few and often hard to find but their live performances are the stuff of legends.

My other minor issue is with Mr. Baird's assertion that WBGO-FM is "one of the nation's first all-jazz FM stations". While somewhat true this statement overlooks WRVR-FM, the now defunct all-jazz, commercial New York City radio station, which was on the air throughout the 1960s and 1970s playing jazz. Sadly in 1980 the station changed to a short lived country music format and now is part of that vast wasteland known as "lite music".

So while andy seems to have covered many of the stateside big bands I managed to cover several of the many the European based outfits. I guess that between the two of us we've shown that big band jazz is far from dead. If you read between the lines of the above quoted post you can pretty much surmise that I'm not too thrilled with Mr. Baird's piece. Sure it sheds some much needed light on an otherwise sadly overlooked artist but I do wish that Baird would leave the jazz writing to those writers more familiar with the music and its history, such as Fred Kaplan. The WRVR mistake is inexcusable for a magazine with editorial offices in NYC.

AndyT wrote:

Jazzfan,

I did see you post right before I wrote mine. Very good. If I hadn't had log-in problems at the time, it would have shown up in the same place shortly afterward.

Thanks!

AndyT wrote:

I'm slightly familiar with a couple of the groups you listed and Misha Nengelberg. I have a small group Herbie Nichols tribute he recorded on Soul Note with Steve Lacy and George Lewis. I haven't listened to it in a long time. I'll change that soon. I also have a recording by the New Art Orchestra led by Bob Brokmeyer featuring his compositions and arrangements. Are you familiar with them. If so, what do you think?

The ICP Orchestra is quite a bit wilder than the Herbie Nichols tribute CD so if you don't care for free jazz I suggest you approach the ICP with some caution. There is also a another CD with a similar group to the one on the Nichols tribute CD. It's called "Dutch Masters" and is also on the Soul Note label - very similar to the Herbie Nichols recording.

Bob Brookmeyer has been around since the 1950s (he's well into his 80's) and first became known for his work with Gerry Mulligan, both as a trombone player and as an arranger. His arrangements are always first rate and manage to be both modern, as in cutting edge, and mainstream at the same time. Quite a feat.

AndyT wrote:

My motivation to write was 3-fold. One was that these really are artists and recordings I enjoy & think others would too. Second, I'm hoping Baird or somebody will take the initiative to review the recordings or interview these artists. Third was to point out to fellow Americans that there is Big Band jazz relatively cloe to home. I hope if any of the groups I listed get close to readers, they'll make an effort to see them live. There's someting about big ensembles that's really special.

On your first and third points I completely agree but as far as getting Baird and Stereophile to cover more of these artists, well the best I can say is that I was very surprised and very glad to see the story on Gerald Wilson. And like I stated earlier I only wish that it had been written by someone other than Mr. Baird.