Kurt Elling - Nightmoves
Chick Corea Elektric Band - Inside Out
Yellowjackets - Time Squared
The Rippingtons - 20th Anniversary
Jaco Pastorius Big Band - The Word Is Out
Sax and the City (various female artists)
Janis Siegel - A Thousand Beautiful Things
Vince Guaraldi - A Boy Named Charlie Brown
Boney James/Rick Braun - Shake It Up
Andy Narell - The Passage

I love Chic Corea's inside out. Great album. I'm watching a 2 disc DVD of vocalist Toscha Comeaux Live at WSRE-TV's(PBS)40th Anniverary reception & 19th annual Wine & Food Classic in Pensacola, Florida. It was a fun event to play, and it came out better than we thought. The songlist is as follows:
If This is Love(original, latin)
Sunday in New York(original, swing)
Love For Sale
My Funny Valentine(duet of guitar, vocal)
Slow Boat to China(swing)
Ms. Celie's Blues
Georgia
Honey Suckle Rose
God Bless the Child(gospel,jazz,funk)
Route 66
Give Me One Reason
Killing Me Softly(bossa nova)
Kansas City
WSRE-TV is waiting to hear from Zenith Records for permission to televise the reception due to the two original tunes.

Among others............

Lettuce-Outta Here
Kurt Rosenwinkel-Deep Song
David Garfield-Giving Back
Stanley Clarke-The Toys Of Men
Hemispheres
Overproof-3 Guys Walk Into A Bar
Brian Auger-Search Party
Jimsaku-Navel

+ a bunch of bass player cd's.

I bought a few more Crusaders albums on New Year's Day: "Southern Comfort" (1974), "The Good And Bad Times" (1986), and "Life In The Modern World" (1988). The last two came first and they bring back memories of the local forecasts on The Weather Channel in the mid to late '80s.

Here's a few I've been listening to this past week:

Chick Corea - Past, Present & Futures
Gary Burton/Pat Metheny - Reunion
Metheny Mehldau - Quartet
Jacques Loussier Trio - Plays Bach & More
Nils - Ready To Play
Chuck Loeb - Presence
Michael Brecker - Pilgrimage
MSM Schmidt - Transit
Turning Point - A Thousand Stories
Mindi Abair - Life Less Ordinary (minus the vocals)

Woody-
thanks for restarting us here....those long threads are great, but hard to navigate sometimes.

Actually, so far as jazz goes, haven't been listening to all that much....

Ken Navarro- Meeting Place, and of course the link he's posted for us to preview a song from his newest upcoming CD. I call it the 26/8 song, not sure what the official title is or if there is one yet. Very well crafted stuff, and so not smooth.

Spyro Gyra- Good to GoGo, Road Scholars, and Three Wishes. All great CDs.

After getting 50 bucks in iTunes gifts, I had intended to spend some on some new jazz artists, but nobody really stood out to me, at least from what I sampled. I did spend most of it on CCM (contemporary christian) and actually got some music videos, a couple of Dream Theater ones, also.
Maybe I'll check again, there's still some money to be spent, and of course I can't just let it sit there

Oh yeah, dug out my old Return to Forever "No Mystery" album over the holidays. Wow. I SO hope they come near here on the reunion tour.

Later
TY

You're welcome, Tony.
If you need some suggestions, here's a few I've reviewed over the past year. Pick a song, any song; you can't go wrong. Stars are those I found to be very pleasant surprises
* Carolyn Leonhart and Wayne Escoffery - If Dreams Come True
* Abigail Riccards - When the Night Is New
Billy Taylor and Gerry Mulligan - Live at MCG
Stanley Clarke - The Toys of Men
* Linda Ciofalo - Sun Set
* Tain and the Ebonix - Folk's Songs
Michael Buble - Call Me Irresponsible
Lisa Hilton - New York Sessions
Mark Weinstein - Con Alma
Billy Gibson Band - Southern Livin'
Charlie Wood - Lucky
Hiroshima - Little Tokyo
* Chris Washburne and the Syotos Band - Land of Nod
Arturo Sandoval - Rumba Palace
Steve Khan - Borrowed Time
* Toru Dodo - Dodo 3
Maynard Ferguson - The One and Only Maynard Ferguson
Rob Fried - Windsong
John Pizzarelli - Dear Mr. Sinatra
* Karen Blixt - Spin This
Justin Hayford - It All Belongs to You
Lee Ritenour - Smoke 'n' Mirrors
Tierney Sutton Band - On the Other Side
Kurt Elling - Nightmoves
* Times 4 - Relations
Andy Narell - Tatoom: Music for Steel Orchestra
Joe Zawinul - Brown Street

There are others, but those are the ones you haven't mentioned that I think are so good, through and through, that you'll be happy with any song you pick - assuming you don't want the entire album.

Vital Information - "Vitalization" (this band fricken' SMOKES!!)
Bill Bruford - "One of a Kind"
Bruce Hornsby - "Camp Meeting"
Bela Fleck - "Live Art"
Dave Weckl - "Multiplicity"
Antonio Sanchez - "Migration"
Pete Townshend - "All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes"

I have this and I agree!

vital information is great on recordings.... and I'm sorry to say this, not that great live.

They're all fantastic musicians individually, but the show I saw last year was disorganized and disappointing. A lot of reliance on Tom Coster and essentially - jamming to fill a 70 minute show. I guess I'm too accustomed to Dave Weckl's shows....

Well. At least they weren't using looped ambient samples like when I saw John Scofield.

just spent the remainder of my iTunes gift card on Chieli Minucci's Sweet Surrender yesterday. Very cool, it'll take a few listens to grasp it all, but there's a good mix of styles and melodies on this one.
A couple tunes are clearly Special Efx, and of course are very good, and there's a rocker or two. 11 of the 14 tunes are over 5 minutes, so this is a lot of music for the money.

Likin' Astral Cats and Mystical right now.

Kat maybe you can record him and Ken doing some Allman Bros very soon

I generally refer to Vital Information as one of my favorite bands. However, I do not like Vitalization quite as well as their last three before it. I prefer Gambale on guitar. To each his/her own. Peace.

I have been listening to my three Soulive CDs ( Doin' Something, Turn It Out, and Soulive) since I read on their message board that they have gotten rid of their singer and have gone back to the original trio. To me that was good news. Peace.

Enjoying a lot of great stuff lately:

1. "Signals" - Wayne Krantz [Enja, 1990]
2. "It's Time" - Michael Buble [Reprise 2005]
3. "Call Me Irresponsible" - Michael Buble [Reprise, 2007]
4. "Metro Express" - Metro [Marsis Jazz, 2007]
5. "Sound Bites" - Jim McNeely w/ the Stockholm Jazz band & Dick Oats [Dragon, 1997]
6. "Choices" - Brian Bromberg [A440 Music, 2004]
7. "Secret Story" - Pat Metheny [Remastered on Nonesuch, 2007]
8. "Nightcap" - Marilyn Scott [Prana Entertainment, 2004]
9. "Blues Etude" - Oscar Peterson Trio [Polygram, 1965]
10. "Possibilities" - Herbie Hanc-ock [Vector, 2005]
11. "Lonely Star" - Chet Baker

Justin Hayford - It All Belongs to You
Terrence Brewer - The Calling (Vols. 1 and 2)
David Joel Quartet - Live at Chris'
Lee Ritenour - Smoke and Mirrors
New York Voices - A Day Like This
The Tierney Sutton Band - On the Other Side
The Puppini Sisters - Betcha Bottom Dollar
Maynard Ferguson - Carnival
Spyro Gyra - Incognito

Alper Yilmaz - Clashes
Nathan Eklund Group - The Crooked Line

GRP Digital Sampler - On the Cutting Edge
Crusaders - Street Life
Woody Witt Quintet - Square Peg, Round Hole
Lee Ritenour - Overtime
Philip Bailey - Soul on Jazz
Marlon Jordan, featuring Stephanie Jordan - You Don't Know What Love Is
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - London Flat, London Sharp
Gabriela Anders - Last Tango in Rio
Benoit / Freeman 2

Lately it's been:

1. "Soul Grooves" - Paul Bollenback [Challenge, 1999]
2. "Stan Getz & Bob Brookmeyer" - Stan and Bob [Verve, 1961]
3. "Setting Standards-New York Sessions" - Keith Jarrett Trio (Vol.,I, II, III) [ECM reissue Jan. 2008 Originally released 1983]
4. "Imagine" - Eva Cassidy [Blixstreet, 2002]
5. "Primal Tracks" - Tribal Tech [Bluemoon, 1994]
6. "Eye of the Beholder" - Chick Corea's Elektric Band [GRP, 1988]
7. "Big Shot" - Astral Project [APR, 2002]
8. "Dog Party" - Scott Henderson [Mesa, 1994]
9. "Like Minds" - Gary Burton, Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, Roy Haynes, Dave Holland [Concord, 1998]
10. "Handpicked" - Marilyn Scott [Prana Entertainment, 2005]
11. "A New Kind of Blue" - Randy Brecker, Chuck Loeb, Andy Snitzer, Mike Ricchiutti, Vic Lewis, David Finck [G.org, 2003]
12. "Run For Your Life" - Yellowjackets [GRP, 1994]
13. "Camp Meeting" - Bruce Hornsby [Sony/BMG, 2007]
14. "New York, New Sound" - Gerald Wilson Orchestra [Mack Avenue, 2003]
15. "A Hot Night In Paris" - Phil Collins Big Band [Atlantic, 1999]
16. "Some Skunk Funk" - Michael & Randy Brecker w/the WDR Big Band [BHM, 2005
17. "Brain" - Hiromi [Telarc Jazz, 2004]
18. "Unforgettable" - Natalie Cole [Elektra Entertainment, 1991]
19. "Gershwin's World" - Herbie Hanc-ock [Verve, 1998]
20. "Letter From Home" Pat Metheny Group [Nonesuch reissue, 2006]
21. "Still Life (Talking) - Pat Metheny Group [Nonesuch reissue, 2006]
22. "One More Once" - Michel Camilo Big Band [Columbia, 1994]
23. "Sound Bites" - Jim McNeely w/the Stockholm Big Band and special guest Dick Oatts on saxophone [Dragon Records, 1997]

Hey, Phil, wasn't Some Skunk Funk incredible?
It doesn't get much better than that. And these performances with the WDR Big Band - Zawinul, and now Maceo Parker - just blow me away.

It's still great to see, that the WDR BigBand is so much appreciated in the U.S.! They really are one of the finest BigBands in Europe, IMO.

One of their next projects this year will be a program together with McCoy Tyner, piano.

I would love to see and hear WDR with McCoy Tyner!

Yeah, Markus. That's a powerful program in the making.

Yes, they will play on April,19 in the Cologne Philharmonic Hall. Perhaps I will look for tickets.

Another highlight will be on February, 28 in Düsseldorf:

WDR BigBand Presenting Bill Evans

Bill Evans, sax
Mark Egan, bass
Dave Weckl, drums
WDR Big Band Cologne

Sounds also promising...

Hey guys . . .

Haven't heard the WDR Big Band with Maco Parker yet. I will look on iTunes today and have a listen.

Former "Count Basie" and "Airmen of Note" arranger, Sammy Nestico, has done a couple of really good releases with another big band from Germany--the SWR Big Band. The are "Basie Cally Sammy" and "No Time Like the Present" on the Hanssler Classics label and released in 2005.

I also just found another very nice big band CD involving pianist Jim McNeeley, saxophonist Dick Oatts playing with the "Stockholm Jazz Orchestra." This CD is titled "Sound Bites" and was released in 1997 on the Dragon Records label if any of you are interested.

Big band jazz has always been a love of mine and I doubt I will ever get enough of the space a big band environment provides for musician interaction and improvisation. And it seems as if there is a growing abundance of modern big bands putting out some truly wonderful stuff [i.e., Gordon Goodwin, Gerald Wilson, Jaco Pastorius Tribute band directd by Peter Graves, Wayne Bergeron, Frank Capp Juggernaut, etc.].

And Marcus . . .

What do you know about the "SWR" big band?

Not so much, Phil. But they are also a wonderful BigBand. They made CD-Recordings with Sammy Nestico, Phil Woods, Rob McConnell, Slide Hampton, Clark Terry and Phil Woods. In the next months, they will be on tour with German Jazz Legends Max Greger sen., Paul Kuhn and Hugo Strasser, they have conducted this BigBand during the last decades.

Woody . . .

Funny you mentioned the Maceo Parker release with the WDR Big Band.

When I walked into the studio this morning to do my show, in my mail slot was a 2-CD set from the Heads Up people, "Roots & Grooves," featuring Maceo and this band.

I will give it a listen this morning and have some cuts ready to air this Friday AM.

Thanks for the heads up (?)

Spun the new Maceo Parker/WDR CD on today's show. The release has a real nice "feel" and as usual the WDR band just flat out swings. I will never get enough of this kind of stuff.

Yellowjackets - Yellowjackets, Altered State
Weather Report - Heavy Weather
Various - A Night Out in New Orleans
Moreira Project - The Journey
Reuben Rogers - The Things I Am
Maynard Ferguson - Hot
Hiroshima - Another Place
Randy Brecker w/Michael Brecker - Some Skunk Funk
The Best of Paquito D'Rivera
Spyro Gyra - City Kids

Hey Phil, I've always loved the way Paul Bollenbeck plays. His voicings are incredible. I'm gettin' flashbacks now when I used to get to sit in with him on a jam session back in the 80's at Takoma Station in DC. As a matter of fact, he and Vinnie Valentino would play duets there that were so beautiful.

Speaking of Vinnie Valentino, I need to get some of his stuff for th Library here at the radio station. Any recommendations?

I've always enjoyed the work of Bollenback and Joey DeFrancesco together as well. The Defrancesco family is a pretty large one. A few years ago I went to Philly to see the JazzTimes Super Band that featured Joey D on B3, Randy Brecker on trumpet, Bob Berg on tenor, and Dennis Chambers on drums. The DeFrancesco clan and friends were there occupying nearly an entire row of seats in the row in front of me and getting into Joey's B3 work at the Keswick Theatre. It was a great evening of jazz and my wife and I got to meet and speak with a number of these talented people.

The Jaco Pastorius Big Band - Word of Mouth Revisited
Veronica Martel - The Art of Intimacy
Gumbi Ortiz - Miami
The George Benson Collection
Diane Schuur and B.B. King - Heart to Heart
David Sanborn - Close-Up
Keith Newton - Feelin' Groovy
Craig Yaremko - Sync
Chris Botti - Night Sessions
George Duke - After Hours
Fattburger - All Natural Ingredients

Just received a couple of releases that are very good:

1. "Something For You" - Eliane Elias [Blue Note, 2008] Ms. Elias is in top form on this one billed as "Eliane Elias Sings & Plays Bill Evans."

2. "Cannon Re-Loaded" - Tom Scott [Concord, 2008] Tom plays alto sax throughout this one and is joined by Terrance Blanchard on trumpet, George Duke, piano & Fender Rhodes; Steve Gadd on drums, Nancy wilson on vocals; Marcus Miller and Dave Carpenter on bass.

3. "Day Trip" - Pat Metheny Trio [Nonesuch, 2008] Pat is joined by Christian McBride on bass and Antonio Sanchez, on drums. This trio did a show locally in October. Unfortunately, I was in Georgia when it played our area. But when I returned to work at the College, I was approached by a woman I've known for years who told me that she and her husband to see Pat's trio. Now she has never been a jazz fan beyond Kenny G, yet she told me that both her and her husband thought it was the most incredible concert they had ever seen. It reaffirms to me that Pat's music appeals to music lovers beyond the imaginary boundaries we erect. I would never have imagined that this woman would have enjoyed this straight-ahead concert.

I wanted to clue you guys in on an incredible vocalist out of the UK by the name of Claire Martin. I'm currently waiting for three of her CD's to arrive ["Waiting Game," "Make This City Ours," and "Offbeat: Live At Ronnie Scott's]. I was absolutely blown away by this gal. She's never really received much recognition in this country and that's a shame. She actually has put out a number of CD's and has been recording since the early 1990's on into today.

Listen to this gal and you'll be a fan for life.

Maynard Ferguson - It's My Time
Horace Silver - Paris Blues
Joyce Cooling - Keeping Cool
Jacintha Goes to Hollywood
Jeff Huddleston & Blue Boss - Cool Drink
*Jeff, last checked he was in New York, but he's the son of a longtime band director here named Roy P. Huddleston. Jeff plays saxophones and flute. This is a self-produced project.
Spyro Gyra - Access All Areas
various - Smooth Africa II: Exploring the Soul

I've been listening to:

Pat Metheny - Day Trip ... really like it!
Brad Mehldau Trio - Day Is Done
Tord Gustaveson Trio - Being There
Lee Ritenour - Alive in L.A. and Festival
Bill Evans - Starfish & The Moon
Bob James - Grand Piano Canyon
Grady Nichols - Sophistication
Chick Corea - Past, Present and Futures
Chuck Loeb - Presence

Keyboardist/pianist Mitch Forman has graciously sent me a collection of releases from Metro and his own solo efforts for our station's jazz library. Among them is a release that is so good that I can't understand how I never became aware of its existence. It's title and some others I've recently received follow:

1. "Patience" - Mitch Forman Trio [Sanctuary, 2000] Features two trio personnel makeups: Trio #1 has Mitch on piano; Dave Carpenter on acoustic bass and Joel Taylor on drums. On Trio #2 Jerry Watts Jr. on electric bass and Brad Dutz on percussion join Mitch again on piano.

2. "The Waiting Game" - Claire Martin [Linn Records, 1992]. You have to hear this gal to appreciate a truly great jazz vocalist. She's from the UK and it's hard to believe she's received virtually no exposure in this country.

3. "Make This City Ours" - Claire Martin [Linn Records, 1997] This is another excellent effort by this glorious vocalist. She is backed on this release by Gareth Williams on piano, Peter Washington on bass, Greg Hutchinson on drums, Antonio Hart on alto sax and Gerard Presencer on flugelhorn and trumpet.

Selections from Mitch Forman's "Patience" and Claire Martin's "The Waiting Game" releases will be featured on tomorrow's (Friday 6:00-8:00am EST) "Catching the Sun" broadcast. On Monday the Claire Martin release "Make This City Ours" will be featured on the show.

Claire Martin's North American distributor for Linn Records is "Honest Entertainment" in Nashville, Tennessee (info@onemusic.com).

Dave Brubeck Quartet - 25th Anniversary Edition
David Sanborn - Closer, The Best of David Sanborn
Kenny Garrett - Tri-ology
David Benoit - Every Step of the Way
Maceo Parker - Roots & Grooves
Eliane Elias - Everything I Love
Hiroshima - Hiroshima

I like your taste in music!

Two must-haves if you like a lotta rock flavor in your instrumental music:

Neil Larsen - Orbit. I am just totally in love with this project with Robben Ford and Jimmy Haslip. It was recorded live in studio and sounds like you're sitting on the front row. It covers too much territory to verbalize but it's simply amazing. Plus, for those of us who loved "Jungle Fever," "High Gear," and the Full Moon and Larsen-Feiten albums there are new takes on some favorite songs from those plus new material. Larsen has been touring with Gregg Allman a lot and its got that same driving, churning keyboard undercurrent w heavy doses of B3 and Rhodes plus lots of moments of sheer beauty when he plays acoustic piano.

And Metro-Express, which some have said is too mellow in spots (compared to the live one it is but that's a different story) but it really isn't. It's textural in parts in a Metheny-ish way.

Some I've ben enjoying lately are:

1. "Elevado" - Astral Project [Compass, 1998]
2. "Some Other Time" - Diane Schuur [Concord, 2008]
3. "Live In London" - Diane Schuur [GR2 Classics, 2006]
4. "Chatterbox" - Jeff Richman & Mitchel Forman
5. "Live At the Blue Note" - Eldar
6. "Interplay" - John Coltrane [Prestige 5-CD Set, 2008]
7. "Live At the London Palladium" - Ted Heath Big Band [London, 1953]
8. "Swing Session" - Ted Heath Big Band [London, 1954]
9. "Bags Meets Wes" - Milt Jackson & Wes Montgomery [Keepnews Collection, Concord, 2008]
10. "Only the Lonely" - Frank Sinatra [Capitol, 1958]

AA - Out of nowhere - kinda mezmerizing...

I like that!

Shifting Sands Quartet - Darkest Rose
Klobas Kesecker Ensemble - No Gravity
Maynard Ferguson - Hollywood
The Very Best of Diana Krall
various - Jazz Like You've Never Heard It Before
Philip Bailey - Dreams
Spyro Gyra - Alternating Currents
Big Bands and Classic Jazz Vol. 1
Diane Schuur - Some Other Time
Yellowjackets - Dreamland

I am listening to an album I downloaded from CD Baby by Cameron Mizell called Life Is Loud, which is quite "Soulive" like. I am digging it. Peace.

Rippingtons - Moonlighting
Dizzy Gillespie - Bebop Professor
Peter Erskine, Tim Hagans & The Norbotten Big Band - Worth the Wait
Spyro Gyra - Breakout
Shapes - The Last Farewell
various - Big Bands and Classic Jazz Vol. 2
Joe Williams - Having the Blues Under European Sky
Raya Yarbrough - Raya Yarbrough
Alan Pasqua, Dave Carpenter and Peter Erskine - The Standards

Also one of my choices for this evening!

Woody...could you give us some background information about "Shapes - The Last Farewell"...Never heard of this before...

I reviewed Shapes' The Big Picture about three years ago. Through one of the members, I got a copy of The Last Farewell. The core group is:
Roger Burns - keyboards, vibes and marimba
Michael Higgins - guitars
Tollak Olstead - harmonicas
Andy Suzuki - saxophones, flutes and clarinets
Dean Taba - acoustic bass
Michael Barsimanto - drums
Guests on this album include Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, and the Yellowjackets' Russell Ferrante and Jimmy Haslip. I think Jimmy was the main bassist on The Big Picture, and he produced this album.
It's a very good, unique sound - especially the way Tollak plays the harmonica.

The Jaki Byard Quartet with Joe Farrell - The Last from Lennie's
Mick Rossi - One Block from Planet Earth
Eric Marienthal - Got You Covered
Wertico - StereoNucleosis
various - Big Bands and Classic Jazz Vol. 3
Spyro Gyra - Stories Without Words
Duke Ellington - Ken Burns Jazz
Victor Wooten - Palmystery
Jon Zeeman - Zeeland
Maynard Ferguson - Storm
Lea Delaria - Double Standards
James Silberstein - Express Lane

Some music that I've been enjoying lately would be:

1. "Three Wishes" - Spyro Gyra [GRP, 1992]
2. "We Live Here" - Pat Metheny Group [Geffen, 1995]
3. "Walking Tall" - Eric Marienthal [i.e. Music, 1998]
4. "Curves Ahead" - The Rippingtons [GRP, 1991]
5. "Great Composers of Jazz" - David Benoit [Vertical Jazz, 2000]
6. "Fields & Strings" - Brandon Fields [Paras, 1998]
7. "For Ella" - Patti Austin & WDR Orchestra [Concord, 2002]
8. "Make This City Ours" - Claire Martin [Honest, 1997]
9. "All For You" - Diana Krall Trio [Verve, 1996]
10. "Styne & Mine" - Christian Jacob [Wilder Jazz, 2003]
11. "New York Rendez-vous" - Didier Lockwood [JMS, 1996]
12. "A Day Like This" - New York Voices [MCG Jazz, 2007]
13. "Parallel Universe" - Pat Metheny & the Heath Brothers [Starburst, 2001]
14. "Joey Calderazzo" - Joey Calderazzo [Columbia, 2000]
15. "Some Other Time" - Diane Schuur [Concord, 2008]
16. "Two Blocks From the edge" - Michael Brecker [Impulse, 1998]
17. "Roots & Grooves" - Maceo Parker & WDR Orchestra [Heads Up, 2008]
18. "Something Else" - Cannonball Adderley [Blue Note, 1958 (remastered 1998)]
19. "Rit's House" - Lee Ritenour [GRP, 2002]
20. "Bags Meets Wes" - MIlt Jackson & Wes Montgomery [Rivreside, 1961]
21. "In the Moment" - Bob Mintzer Quartet [Art of Life, 2007]
22. "The Artistry of Art Pepper" - Art Pepper Nonet [Capitol, 1957]
23. "Altered State" - Yellowjackets [Heads Up, 2005]
24. "Cannon Re-Loaded" - Tom Scott [Concord, 2008]
25. "The Third Man" - Stefano Bollani & Enrico Rava [ECM, 2008]

Rippingtons - Kilimanjaro
Gerald Albright - New Beginnings
various - Big Bands and Classic Jazz Vol. 4 (last of a set)
Bob James - Ivory Coast
Natalie Cole - Ask a Woman Who Knows
Spyro Gyra - Rites of Summer

... and a couple I wouldn't normally include here
Steely Dan - Alive in America (many of their studio recordings are jazzlike, so it's only fitting that these live arrangements be mentioned)
Billy Joel - 52nd Street (if only because of Freddie Hubbard's solo on Zanzibar)

Wishful Thinking by Wishful Thinking

Think Spyro Gyra, but no Jay Beckenstein....I know, I know, but it works!!!!

And Michael Brecker endorsed this record on the back cover.

On Wishful Thinking;s second release, "Think Again" the even recorded an orgiginal "Mike and Randy Leave For Pluto"!!!

Alot of weird stop and start time changes in that one!!

Am also listening to the live PMG recording from about 10 years ago!!

Paul

Just received and am enjoying the latest from the Caribbean Jazz Project, "Afro Bop Alliance" on the Heads Up label.

It's billed as the CJP's music charted for a big band. And on several of the pieces a big band is evident. However, on quite a few of the arrangements you don't get a real "big band" feel. Instead you'd swear a much smaller group was in the recording studio that day. Any opinions on this release?

Regardless, I like the music and the soloists are first class thoughout. My only complaint would be that the session would have benefitted by a couple of original compositions & arrangements suited to CJP's big band Latin style.

Phil, please explain what you meant. What do you think is lacking here: Original songs? Big band sound? Latin style?
I'm no expert, but it seems all those elements are here.
Dave Samuels wrote five of the songs. Since Rendezvous is the only one I have on a Dave Samuels solo release, I assume the rest were written for CJP. Plus, he arranged all but Soul Sauce for the new album. So I'm totally not getting the "original compositions & arrangements" part of that.
As to the big band Latin sound, there's a 13-piece horn section, which covers the "big band" portion. And isn't Afro Bop Alliance a Latin-style band?
What am I missing?

Woody . . .

All the pieces on this release have been done on other CJP releases by the various CJP groups Dave Samuels has put together since 1995 with, I believe the lone exception being "Soul Sauce" [my favorite on the CD]. A couple of new compositions unique to this release would have added to its appeal.

Now that the Heads Up label is under the Concord Music Group umbrella, will CJP releases be on Heads Up rather than Concord Picante? I've often wondered how these sub-labels work under these larger enterprises.