Eyal Vilner Big Band - Almost Sunrise

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:56
Size: 139,6 MB
Art: Front

(3:04)  1. The Rabbit
(3:37)  2. Centerpiece
(4:33)  3. Tee Pee Time
(5:51)  4. Almost Sunrise
(6:32)  5. Centerpiece (Bonus Track)
(4:41)  6. Stablemates
(3:29)  7. It Don't Mean a Thing
(5:58)  8. Lush Life
(5:29)  9. It Be Feeling Like the Blues
(4:12) 10. Straighten Up and Fly Right
(4:23) 11. The Gypsy
(4:26) 12. The District of the Blues
(4:34) 13. It's All Right With Me

A touch of boogie woogie threaded with strands of swing and vintage ballroom jazz and the result is Eyal Vilner Big Band’s Almost Sunrise. The saxophonist and clarinet player, Eyal Vilner takes over the role as leader exhibiting the enthusiasm of Jimmy Dorsey, administering the meticulous arranging of Artie Shaw, and demonstrating a knack to create melodic prose liken to Benny Goodman. Vilner is a bandleader whose attributes fuse the traits of his predecessors and update ballroom dance to a post-dancehall swing grade. Brass and reed filled riffs are punctuated by fiery solos in “The Rabbit” with zigzagging motifs that resemble the theme song for the TV program American Bandstand, a synthesis of Artie Shaw’s “High Society” and Charles Albertine’s “Bandstand Boogie.” Vilner captures the merriment of Benny Golson’s “Stablemates” blazing with bebop style horns and tapping drum beats that coast into the springy jive-driven rhythm of Duke Ellington‘s “It Don’t Mean a Thing” flanked in thrusting solos intermittently played by the clarinet and sax as the throaty vocals of nightclub singer Charenee Wade give the number ballroom savvy.  Glittering keys produce soft arches along “Lush Life” as Wade’s vocals stroke gently across the sequences while the sensual swagger of the saxophone in “It Be Feeling Like the Blues” is dotted in swizzling horns that shimmer and flutter against the strolling drum strikes. 

Vocalists Wade, Charles Turner, and Nadia Washington display a harmony reminiscent of the Andrews Sisters rapport in Nat King Cole’s “Straighten Up and Fly Right” giving the recording a Lindy hop atmosphere. The album treads into moonlit waters in “The Gypsy” as Wade’s vocals hug the soft curves of the horns which dive into a burlesque-tinged strut along the smoky riffs of “The District of the Blues,” a swing favorite written by Jimmy Owens. Vilner’s variations on Cole Porter’s “It’s All Right with Me” puts an upbeat pulse in the rhythmic keys which traverse into a cool jazz stride in “Centerpiece,” a signature number of Harry Edison and Jon Hendricks with horns cresting and receding at a tranquilizing pace which proceed into the floating riffs of the title track. Eyal Vilner re-creates several landmark tunes of America’s Swing Era, which stretched across the central decades of the 20th century. The fluidity of the music, navigating through romping uptempos and gently swirling ballads, is laudable liken to the melodic sensibilities of Vilner’s predecessors. The music is made to be celebrated, and incites audiences to celebrate life with its many facets. ~ Susan Frances  http://www.axs.com/album-review-almost-sunrise-from-the-eyal-vilner-big-band-40866

Personnel:  Eyal Vilner - Alto Sax;  John Mosca – Trombone;  Max Seigel – Trombone;  Nick Finzer – Trombone;  Charenee Wade – Vocalist;  Charles Turner – Vocalist;  Nadia Washington – Vocalist;  Tadataka Unno – Piano;  Jennifer Vincent – Bass;  Joe Strasser – Drums;  Dan Block – Clarinet;  Matthew Jodrell – Trumpet;  Bryan Davis – Trumpet;  Wayne Tucker – Trumpet;  Lucas Pino - Tenor Sax;  Asaf Yuria - Tenor Sax;  Andrew Gould - Alto Sax ;  Eden Bareket - Baritone Sax

Almost Sunrise

---

Eyal Vilner - Introducing The Eyal Vilner Big Band

Styles: Saxophone Jazz, Big Band
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:08
Size: 124,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:06)  1. Woody'N You
(4:52)  2. Epilogue
(4:19)  3. Your Eyes
(7:43)  4. Tonk
(6:43)  5. Isn't This a Lovely Day
(5:36)  6. Un Poco Loco
(6:20)  7. The Nearness of You
(4:29)  8. New One
(4:14)  9. Night Flight
(5:43) 10. Remember

Tel Aviv, Israel-born saxophonist, composer and bandleader Eyal Vilner moved to New York City in 2007 to continue his studies at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. After touring Israel in the summer of 2008, he decided to establish a New York version of his all-star Israeli big band. Enlisting fourteen of the city's finest musicians, the ensemble boasts such players as veteran saxophonist Dan Block, trumpeter and director of the Julliard Jazz Orchestra Brandon Lee, Grammy Award-winning trombonist and director of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra John Mosca, and young jazz vocal sensation Yaala Ballin. Having performed at various venues throughout the Big Apple, Introducing The Eyal Vilner Big Band is the group's self-titled debut CD, containing a selection of originals as well as new arrangements of standards by Dizzy Gillespie, Irving Berlin, Bud Powell and others. A brisk new arrangement of Gillespie's jazz classic "Woody'N You" opens the date in swinging fashion, featuring solos from Mosca and Vilner. 

The first Vilner original of the set is the brief "Your Eyes," a mid-tempo piece introducing pianist Yonatan Riklis and capturing the leader on both alto sax and clarinet. Blending the sounds of New York jazz with the New Orleans style, "Tonk" is a Ray Bryant tune spiced up with an arrangement penned at the request of pianist Junior Mance. Mance performed the piece with Vilner's band at the New School, where he also teaches. Israeli songbird Yaala Ballin lends her lush vocals to three songs. Berlin's "Isn't This a Lovely Day" is a slow, cushy love ballad that also features light solos from trumpeter Lee and trombonist Mosca. She returns with a warm performance on Hoagy Carmichael's classic "The Nearness of You," and is a delight on the other Berlin standard, "Remember." Powell's familiar "Un Poco Loco" is one of the rousing orchestrations featuring the unusually-configured sections of five reeds and four brass, which work quite well here. The burly baritone sax voice of Jonah Parzen-Johnson introduces "New One," another swinging big band chart enjoying furious solos from tenorist Ned Goold and trumpeter Lee. Not to be confused with Sammy Nestico's composition of the same name, Vilner's "Night Flight" flies a distinctly different approach low and slow, under the radar, guided by the leader's gorgeous alto phrases and tender piano chords. 

This truly artistic effort ends with a beautiful, partly improvised piece appropriately entitled "Epilogue." Mosca, Goold and Vilner offer marvelous solo performances on the final selection. Eyal Vilner's skills as a musician are unquestionable, but his talents as a composer, arranger and bandleader are what's truly on display on Introducing The Eyal Vilner Big Band, a remarkable debut recording from a group poised to take their place among the major big bands of the East. Vilner offers clever charts, excellent musicianship and an exciting new sound in the finest tradition of contemporary big band music. ~ Edward Blanco  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/introducing-the-eyal-vilner-big-band-eyal-vilner-gut-string-records-review-by-edward-blanco.php
 

Personnel: Eyal Vilner: alto saxophone, clarinet; Andrew Gould: alto saxophone, clarinet; Pablo Castano: alto saxophone, flute; Ned Goold: tenor saxophone; Dan Block: tenor saxophone, clarinet; Jonah Parzen-Johnson: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet; Cameron Johnson: trumpet; Brandon Lee: trumpet, flugelhorn; John Mosca: trombone; Kevin Cerovich: trombone; Yonatan Rosen: drums; Yonatan Riklis: piano; Montana Agte-Studier: flute (4); Yaala Ballin: vocals (4, 6, 9).

Introducing The Eyal Vilner Big Band

---