Ed Palermo - New York City Saturday Night Swing

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 33:23
Size: 78,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:11)  1. Eddie's Boogie
(3:13)  2. The Vamp Is Back
(2:40)  3. Ladies & Gentlemen
(3:30)  4. Jumpin' Jeans
(3:21)  5. Starlight Romance
(3:00)  6. Mambo Cabana
(2:41)  7. Swing Time
(2:58)  8. Feelin' Lucky
(2:47)  9. Broadway, Please
(3:24) 10. Home Base Blues
(2:34) 11. Easy Living

Ed Palermo has been leading his own big band for more than 25 years, an accomplishment all by itself. Prior to that he had performed or recorded with Aretha Franklin, Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Celia Cruz, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, Mel Tormé, Lou Rawls, Melba Moore, Debbie Gibson, the Spinners, and many others. He has also written and arranged for The Tonight Show, Maurice Hines, and Eddy Fischer, and his arranging talents were singled out by master arranger Gil Evans: "I first heard Ed Palermo's music in a small club in the SoHo section of Manhattan. He was using the instrumentation of a traditional 'big band' yet his arrangements and songs were anything but that. When I thought the music was going a certain direction, it would suddenly turn a corner. Ed has the ability to keep that important balance between cohesiveness and unpredictability. Ed Palermo's music is alive and represents now." Palermo has done arrangements of composers ranging from Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles to Shostakovich and Milhaud. However, he is probably best known for his arranging of the music of Frank Zappa for his big band, which has been performing the Zappa repertoire steadily for two decades. In 1997 he released the critically acclaimed The Ed Palermo Big Band Plays the Music of Frank Zappa on Astor Place, featuring the band with guest musicians Mike Stern and Mike Keneally. In July 2002, the Ed Palermo Big Band played at the Zappanale Festival in Bad Doberan, Germany, and a year later a Swedish version of the band performed at the Umeå Internationella Kammarmusik Festival in Sweden with guests Napoleon Murphy Brock and Keneally. Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance, their second recording of Zappa material, was released in May 2006. Three years later, Palermo and company returned with another Zappa-themed big-band effort, Eddy Loves Frank. Oh No!! Not Jazz!! Followed in 2014. In 2017 he delivered The Great Un-American Songbook, Volumes I & II, which featured jazz reworkings of songs by British rock acts including the Beatles, Cream, the Rolling Stones, Radiohead, and more. ~ Sean Westergaard https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ed-palermo-mn0000791880/biography

New York City Saturday Night Swing

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Ed Palermo Big Band - A Lousy Day in Harlem

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:32
Size: 165,4 MB
Art: Front

(8:25)  1. Laurie Frink
(5:14)  2. Affinity
(5:36)  3. Brasilliance
(6:02)  4. Sanfona
(2:32)  5. Like Lee Morgan
(7:03)  6. The One with the Balloon
(3:38)  7. Minority
(8:07)  8. The Cowboy Song
(3:02)  9. Well You Needn't
(4:04) 10. Giant Steps
(7:33) 11. Next Year
(7:47) 12. Gargoyles
(2:24) 13. This Won't Take Long

There’s often a note of humor in the titles and artwork of arranger/saxophonist/composer Ed Palermo’s recordings (The Great Un-American Songbook featured several British Invasion-era tunes), and this one is no exception: The cover of A Lousy Day in Harlem plays off of the classic 1958 Art Kane photograph of 57 jazz musicians gathered in front of a Harlem brownstone, with Palermo in front of the same building, alone and forlorn.  But that’s where the funny stuff ends; when Palermo gets down to arranging music, he’s dead serious. Unlike previous efforts from him that focused largely on a single composer (more often than not Frank Zappa), this program roams widely. A couple of the numbers Monk’s “Well You Needn’t” and Gigi Gryce’s “Minority” come from musicians who appeared in that 1958 photo; the rest are either Palermo originals or interpretations of pieces both contemporary (Renee Rosnes) and classic (Ellington). Throughout, there’s a uniformity in the airtight arrangements and the seamlessly executed playing. Twenty-first century big-band music doesn’t get more exciting and impressive than this. Among the pieces from outside sources, the Egberto Gismonti tune “Sanfona” is a particular highlight, gliding easily between divergent tempos; Phil Chester’s sweet and sassy soprano saxophone solo is punctuated by unexpected bursts from the other horn players. The originals show that Palermo has learned well from the masters. Opener “Laurie Frink,” dedicated to the late trumpeter, gets things off to a swinging start, while “Like Lee Morgan” gives one of the band’s current trumpeters, John Bailey, an opportunity not to mimic Morgan but to honor him in his own way. Two tenor saxists, Bill Straub and Ben Kono, nod similarly to Trane in an uptempo, electrifying “Giant Steps.” Ain’t nothing lousy at all about this one. https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/ed-palermo-big-band-a-lousy-day-in-harlem-sky-cat/

Personnel:  Ed Palermo - alto sax; Cliff Lyons - alto sax, clarinet, soprano sax; Phil Chester - alto sax, soprano sax, flute, piccolo; Bill Straub - tenor sax, clarinet, flute; Ben Kono - tenor sax, flute, oboe; Barbara Cifelli - baritone sax, bass clarinet, Eb mutant clarinet; Ronnie Buttacavoli - trumpet; John Bailey - trumpet; Steve Ingman - trumpet; Charley Gordon - trombone; Mike Boschen - trombone; Matt Ingman - bass trombone; Ray Marchica - drums; Paul Adamy - electric bass;  Bob Quaranta - piano; Ted Kooshian - keyboards

A Lousy Day in Harlem

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