'Big Bands' are alive and well!

[Cmillar]

But, it really depends where you happen to live, right?

In New York city, there are several happening big bands that get audiences. Mind you, there are many more people living in that city to draw from in order to get an audience interested in cultural events than in many other areas in the US.
(...gotta' face reality!....most people don't want to live in NYC just so they can sit at home and watch Netflix or go to be entertained every Sunday at some mega-church as is the norm across much of the US)

LA has great bands drawing from a large pool of fantastic musicians. (numerous....big bands of Gordon Goodwin, John Daversa, etc. etc. etc.)

In Washington DC, people can go hear the military big bands for free courtesy of our tax dollars at work. The service bands keep it interesting with great music and fantastic musicians playing great charts!

In Europe and Japan, there are fantastic Big Bands playing hip new music in concert-like settings.

In order to get a head start on some 'YouTube' searching, can some of you post some web-links and/or other information on Big Bands from around the world that are keeping the tradition alive while pushing it forward it new ways?

Many of us would appreciate knowing what others are doing in other parts of the world with the big bands.
Thanks!

[henrysa]

In LA area, Search Dave Slonaker Big Band, cutting edge music, very polished live videos, terrific close ups. Sometimes while watching, the trombone players will actually empty their spit valves right on your shoes!

[tbdana]

In LA area, Search Dave Slonaker Big Band, cutting edge music, very polished live videos, terrific close ups. Sometimes while watching, the trombone players will actually empty their spit valves right on your shoes!

Dave is a wonderful writer with a dope band, and deserves a lot more attention. Everyone here should check them out.

[Cmillar]

Great Dave Slonaker clip for sure!

I've heard other John Daversa recording, but this one sure is a 'romp' through several different genres for his Big Band:

[Cmillar]

Have to put a plug in for my trumpet friend Mark Buselli's big band over in Indianapolis, the 'Buselli-Wallarab Orchestra'. They've kept this band going for quite awhile now:

[GGJazz]

Hello all.

Here a couple of studio recording , done with two big band I am playing , here in Italy . The first one was recorded in 2019 , the second in 2020 .

Reunion Big Band ( here I' am playing bass trbn chair) :
"Bossa to Cris"


ERJ Jazz Orchestra ( here I'm playing melody and solo , on bass trbn) :
"Lady sing the blues"


Regards
Giancarlo

[EriKon]

I'm very lucky to occasionally sit in with the NDR Bigband. This is one of four radio big bands in Germany (NDR, WDR, HR and SWR). All great big bands with different musical focus and approaches. Those bands have some really nice creative output that is definitely worth to check out. NDR Bigband just released a new album with British composer Nikki Iles who writes wonderful music. I think I did some of the recordings there too.

This is a live performance of one of my favorite programs of the band from last summer. Not the best in terms of sound, but the gig was fun. And that's me playing the tenor tb solo on the first tune...


In general Germany has a great bigband scene with some really good (mostly young) bigbands that are not much known.

[tbdana]

Great job, Erik!

I like Germany's big bands. Great program, good players, fine music. A joy to listen to. And I'll bet a blast to play with.

[Cmillar]

Great job, Erik!

I like Germany's big bands. Great program, good players, fine music. A joy to listen to. And I'll bet a blast to play with.

Yeah! Fantastic. There's a reason why Bob Brookmeyer spent his time there...welcoming players and audiences for new music.

Some of the greatest US composers/arrangers know it: Jim McNeely, Mike Abene, Maria Schneider, Vince Mendoza and many more.

[AndrewMeronek]

I play with several big bands around town, a couple as a regular member and the others as a fairly regular sub. Many of them aren't interested in creating quality video "demos".

https://www.rhythmsociety.net/#gigs

[AndrewMeronek]

Here's a public concert from one of the other bands I play with regularly. IMHO a good lesson on how important sound engineering (or the lack thereof) can make or break how a band sounds.

[mgladdish]

This is a timely thread with this piece in The Guardian just the other day: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/ ... al-de-jazz Big Bands in the national press!

I'm in the London Jazz Orchestra (https://londonjazzorchestra.com/), and we've been resident at The Vortex for ~30 years. London's longest jazz residency, apparently.

What I love about this group is we only play music written by members of the band, for the band. And those members have ranged from Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor at the beginning, through Nikki Iles and Pete Saberton, up to Pete Hurt and Martin Speake. It's all great, modern, writing whilst remaining lyrical and listenable.

Unfortunately we're not organised enough to have a YouTube presence, but our most recent album should give you a taste of the sort of stuff we play:




This weekend we're doing a gig's worth of music Kenny Wheeler wrote for the band. Rehearsals are sounding good so far!