WDR Big Band - Ariabesques - WDR Big Band Plays Bach Disc 1, Disc 2

Album: Ariabesques - WDR Big Band Plays Bach Disc 1
Styles: Big Band
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:23
Size: 104,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:54) 1. Aria
(2:52) 2. Variation 1
(2:40) 3. Variation 2
(2:48) 4. Variation 3
(2:54) 5. Variation 4
(2:30) 6. Variation 5
(3:18) 7. Variation 6
(2:59) 8. Variation 7
(2:07) 9. Variation 8
(2:51) 10. Variation 9
(2:15) 11. Variation 10
(2:29) 12. Variation 11
(2:50) 13. Variation 12
(3:31) 14. Variation 13
(2:43) 15. Variation 14
(2:35) 16. Variation 15

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Album: Ariabesques - WDR Big Band Plays Bach Disc 2
Time: 48:53
Size: 112,9 MB

(3:12) 1. Variation 16
(2:49) 2. Variation 17
(2:57) 3. Variation 18
(3:07) 4. Variation 19
(2:47) 5. Variation 20
(2:55) 6. Variation 21
(2:21) 7. Variation 22
(2:54) 8. Variation 23
(3:12) 9. Variation 24
(3:53) 10. Variation 25
(3:05) 11. Variation 26
(3:01) 12. Variation 27
(3:21) 13. Variation 28
(3:15) 14. Variation 29
(2:14) 15. Variation 30
(3:44) 16. Aria (Finale)

With Ariabesques Bill Dobbins and the WDR Big Band have brought Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations to new life - double CD in a three-part digipack with a 12-page booklet on Jazzline. The American composer, pianist, jazz teacher and conductor Bill Dobbins has worked with many popular musicians of various genres and has taught at the Eastman School of Music on several occasions.

In the 1990s, Dobbins first came into contact with the renowned WDR Big Band in Cologne and was chief conductor from 1994 to 2002. For years, their cast has included international stars such as Karolina Strassmayer and Ludwig Nuss. In 2007, the WDR Big Band received its first Grammy and has many other recognized successes. The Goldberg Variations are not the first Bach compositions that Dobbins and the people of Cologne have dared to write.

A jazz version of Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the well-known ensemble The King's Singers was released in 2010. Originally composed for the two-manual harpsichord, Dobbins transformed the Goldberg Variations into an impressive version for big band by swapping repeated notes with short rests.

Through the fusion of the original melodies and the most important notes of the bass lines with impressive solos, Bach's characteristics form a stringent basis, which creates original sound impressions with funky jazz elements and makes the work a completely new experience.
https://www.amazon.ca/Ariabesques-Band-Plays-Goldberg-Variations/dp/B0C162DB7S

Ariabesques - WDR Big Band Plays Bach Disc, Disc 2

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Paquito D'Rivera, Christopher Dell, WDR Big Band - Benny Goodman Revisited

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 76:23
Size: 174.8 MB
Styles: Latin jazz, Big band
Year: 2009/2016
Art: Front

[ 8:39] 1. Slipped Disc
[ 6:45] 2. Let's Dance
[ 7:49] 3. Memories Of You
[ 7:23] 4. Stompin At The Savoy
[ 5:39] 5. Benny @ 100
[ 8:19] 6. Don't Be That Way
[15:28] 7. Soft Winds
[11:27] 8. Sing Sing Sing
[ 4:48] 9. Goodbye

This 2009 recording Benny Goodman Revisited is one of several fine tributes to Benny Goodman that have been made over the years. Eddie Daniels also recorded a terrific homage, Benny Rides Again but what sets this apart is the superb nature of the arrangements and the WDR Big Band at whom you can throw almost anything and they will throw it right back at you with just as much force. Remember also this record was made during the Michael Abene years (as arranger and conductor) at one of the most prominent Big Bands in Europe and, indeed, the world as well. This is actually more than a mere musical tribute; it is a tableau featuring two extraordinary musicians (clarinettist Paquito D’Rivera and the vibraphonist Christopher Dell) playing the parts of two extraordinary characters vibraphonist Lionel Hampton and clarinettist Benny Goodman, who led several of the greatest Big Bands in the history of music.

Paquito-D'Rivera-Benny-Goodman-RevisitedIt is a tall order not only to play that music well, but also to recreate the aura of the Benny Goodman Big Band with flair and panache. But that’s exactly what you get when the forces of the WDR Big Band under the baton of Michael Abene combine with Paquito D’Rivera as well as Christopher Dell. These musicians play with unbridled skill that melds together with the Goodman songbook of endlessly evolving compositional virtuosity and what a grand celebration in music it is. Voluptuous melodic lines rub slinkily against clawed and harmonically arresting performances by the Big Band. Woodwind and reeds soli soar breathlessly and Paquito D’Rivera needs but a gentle prod with a note or a phrase to unleash his fluttering solos.

True Memories of You, Stompin at the Savoy and Sing Sing Sing are exceptional in their expressive intensity but if brightness only occasionally falls from the air the majority of Mr Goodman’s works, with their volte-face humour and open-hearted delight in the unexpected and in their swing, reflect a joy in compositional wizardry. Such qualities are dazzlingly articulated by Paquito D’Rivera and Christopher Dell (when called upon to solo), and, of course, the great WDR Big Band, with one performance after another of crystalline brilliance and musicianship. Hear the gloriously perky and resilient opening to Sing Sing Sing or the way Paquito D’Rivera conveys the mock grandeur of Stompin at the Savoy almost as if the dancers of the Savoy were relishing it all over again.

The musicians capture all of the music’s grandeur (its simultaneously elegiac and assuaging use of sixths and thirds) and is warm conciliatory in the slower, more statuesque movements before firing off the finales’ testy and explosive whimsy. These performances are clearly a prime love for Paquito D’Rivera and Christopher Dell, as well as the WDR Big Band. They will also surely be a prime love for all connoisseurs of Benny Goodman’s music as well, which is why this is an essential recording on many fronts. ~Raul de Gama

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Lalo Schifrin - Latin Jazz Suite

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:59
Size: 148.8 MB
Styles: Big band
Year: 1999
Art: Front

[ 7:33] 1. Montuno
[ 7:48] 2. Martinique
[12:42] 3. Pampas
[12:44] 4. Fiesta
[15:21] 5. Ritual
[ 8:49] 6. Manaos

Bass – John Goldsby; Bass Trombone – Lucas Schmid; Ensemble – WDR Big Band ; Drums – Ignacio Berroa; Percussion – Alex Acuña, Alphonso Garrido, Marcio Doctor; Piano – Lalo Schifrin; Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – David Sanchez; Trumpet – Jon Faddis; Guitar – Paul Shigihara; Piano, Organ – Frank Chastenier; Reeds – Harald Rosenstein, Heiner Wiberny, Jens Neufang, Olivier Peters, Rolf Römer; Trombone – Bernt Laukamp, Dave Horler, Ludwig Nuß; Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Andy Haderer, John Marshall, Klaus Osterloh, Rick Kiefer, Rob Bruynen. Recorded live at Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal on June 18 & 19, 1999.

Lalo Schifrin's Latin Jazz Suite is a masterful celebration of the diverse and colorful sounds and feelings that Latin forms add to the jazz vocabulary. It is also a reflection of the composer's successful contributions to the Latin musical language over the last four decades. This enthralling, consistently engaging six-piece suite - recorded live over two nights of its June 1999 premiere in Cologne, Germany — most recalls Schifrin's historic Gillespiana suite. But Latin Jazz Suite is a milestone of arguably greater proportion. As a composer, Schifrin here reveals a greater, more refined depth of maturity, a worldly mastery of musical forms and a perfected sensibility for the drama and adventure of long-form structures.

The suite scales Cuban ("Montuno"), Caribbean ("Martinique") and Argentinean ("Pampas") structures to those informed by Brazilian ("Manaos"), African (the superb "Ritual") and flamenco ("Fiesta") styles. Percussion flavors subtly throughout, but never dominates or overwhelms. Schifrin's no tourist. He uses his compositional prowess to suggest the different landscapes he traverses. He also divides the star roles most intriguingly. The orchestra — voiced here by the great WDR Big Band, which commissioned the work — carries the majority of the melodies and punctuates poetically with some of Schifrin's most Gil Evans-like scoring (perhaps acknowledging the influence of Sketches of Spain ). Solos are manned by an exciting triumvirate including Schifrin (marvelous) on piano, Jon Faddis (at his Dizzyest best) and young firebrand David Sanchez on tenor and soprano saxophones. A stronger triad is difficult to conceive.

The suite's highlight is the pulsating, chant-like "Ritual," a hypnotic and vibrant piece in 12/8 time that elicits especially commanding solos from Faddis, Sanchez and, most notably, Schifrin himself. Other highlights include the catchy "Martinique," a Caribbean polyglot of Sonny Rollins's "St. Thomas" and Schifrin's own "Roulette Rhumba," and the concerto-like beauty of "Pampas," Schifrin's visit back to a 1978 theme (from his underrated Gypsies LP) enlivened most imaginatively by "Street Tattoo," the composer's theme to the film, Boulevard Nights.

This 65-minute opus ultimately suggests a sort of jazz symphony. The invention of Schifrin's conception interacting with the wit and verve of the players protect against any kind of museum-quality stodginess too. As it unfurls, it reveals itself as a most entertaining work. When it's over, it lingers in the mind and the heart as a real work of art. Surely, Latin Jazz Suite is among the best, most memorable jazz recordings of the year and like Gillespiana, Jazz Mass and Marquis de Sade, one of the great jazz achievements in Lalo Schifrin's provocative career. ~Douglas Payne

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Dial & Oatts, Rich De Rosa & The WDR Big Band - Rediscovered Ellington: New Takes On Duke's Rare And Unheard Music

Size: 177,6 MB
Time: 76:44
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz, big Band
Art: Front

01. Hey, Baby (10:40)
02. Let The Zoomers Drool ( 8:23)
03. I Like Singing ( 9:23)
04. Just A Gentle Word Will Do ( 7:24)
05. Introspection ( 9:11)
06. Kiki ( 8:30)
07. Love Came ( 7:29)
08. Kcor ( 8:24)
09. I Must Be Mad ( 7:16)

Pianist Garry Dial and saxophonist Dick Oatts have teamed up frequently in recent years as "Dial and Oatts," on some occasions to record their own material (Dial and Oatts, 1990) and on others to breathe new life into classic jazz repertoire (Dial and Oatts Play Cole Porter, 1993). Their latest, Rediscovered Ellington, is of course an example of the latter, as the two combine forces with arranger/conductor Rich DeRosa and the WDR Big Band to tackle nine pieces in the Duke Ellington songbook that have been either under-recorded or are only now getting their first recorded exposure. Rather than going the repertory route via slavish imitation, the approach here involves re-imagining these songs through creative arrangements that are largely successful in bringing a contemporary big-band sensibility to this slice of Ellingtonia.

All of the pieces here are from the vaults of Tempo Music, the publishing company that Ellington himself ran and which his sister Ruth took over after Duke's death in 1974. There's a fairly wide time-frame represented, with early tracks like "Hey, Baby" and "Let the Zoomers Drool" dating from the 1940s and later pieces like "KCOR" and "I Must Be Mad" coming from the 1960s. To be sure, it's not top-shelf Ellington: these pieces aren't likely to rival any of the true masterpieces in Ellington's body of work. The value of the album thus ultimately hinges on the strength of the arrangements and the quality of musicianship on display. And on both counts it is quite compelling overall.

When at its best, the WDR Big Band is indeed top-notch: precise, dynamically expansive, and capable of navigating the most complex charts without a hitch. So Dial and Oatts have a terrific palette with which to work, and they take full advantage of it. The album's opener, "Hey, Baby" is perhaps the strongest cut on the record: under DeRosa's expert guidance and Oatts's splendid work on the soprano sax, the band takes a fairly run-of-the-mill melody and transforms it into a 10-minute tour-de-force, with an emotional richness and musical depth that rewards repeated listening. Compare the best- known rendition of the tune found on the Rosemary Clooney/Ellington Orchestra record Blue Rose (from 1956) with this one and you can easily appreciate DeRosa's remarkable arranging talents. On a gentler note, "I Like Singing," taken from a musical Ellington co-wrote with Herbert Martin called Saturday Laughter, is a lovely ballad with an air of melancholy and some fantastic harmonic color from the band; another excellent slower-tempo piece is "Love Came," this one co-written by Billy Strayhorn (who inexplicably isn't given this credit on the album). Previously unrecorded pieces "Introspection" and "Kiki" are delightful mid-tempo tracks that feature superb arrangements and invigorating energy from the WDR band. The ensemble writing for "Kiki" is especially strong, with terrific pacing and multilayered voicings throughout.

Not all of the songs receive this degree of creative re-imagining, however. While it's got a great title, "Let the Zoomers Drool" is more or less a standard blues number, and it's not really given a whole lot extra by the band, although Dial does get a chance to showcase his piano chops convincingly. "Just a Gentle Word From You Will Do," another previously unrecorded piece, is provided a fairly light, Latin-flavored treatment, with Oatts taking a turn on flute this time—but again, there isn't quite enough here to make the performance memorable. Finally, the album's closer, "I Must Be Mad" is built around a piano/alto sax duet between Dial and Oatts. The tune is pleasant enough and it definitely highlights the two musicians' strong rapport, but the piece is unexceptional by Ellington's lofty standards and it doesn't rise to the level of the stronger cuts on the record.

The above limitations notwithstanding, most of the music here is very, very good: even second (or third) tier Ellington is pretty fine stuff! Kudos should go to Dial, Oatts, DeRosa and the WDR Big Band for the passion and dedication they brought to this commendable project. ~Troy Dostert

Personnel: Garry Dial: piano, arranger; Dick Oatts: soprano sax, alto sax, flute, arranger; Rich DeRosa: conductor, arranger, big band orchestrations; Johan Horlen: alto sax, flute, clarinet; Karolina Strassmayer: alto sax, flute; Olivier Peters: tenor sax, clarinet; Paul Heller: tenor sax, clarinet; Jens Neufang: bari sax, bass sax, bass clarinet; Andy Haderer: lead trumpet; Wim Both: alt lead trumpet; Rob Bruynen: trumpet; Ruud Breuls: trumpet; John Marshall: trumpet; Ludwig Nuss: lead trombone; Shannon Barnett: trombone; Andy Hunter: trombone; Mattis Cederberg: bass trombone, tuba; John Goldsby: bass; Hans Dekker: drums.

Rediscovered Ellington

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WDR Big Band - Celebrating Billie Holiday

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 76:58
Size: 176.2 MB
Styles: Big band
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[4:39] 1. Fine and Mellow
[7:07] 2. Detour Ahead
[6:15] 3. Lover Man
[6:11] 4. You've Changed
[5:11] 5. What a Little Moonlight Can Do
[5:16] 6. My Man
[3:36] 7. Left Alone
[6:13] 8. Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
[6:32] 9. For All We Know
[5:22] 10. I Cover the Waterfront
[8:13] 11. You Don't Know What Love Is
[5:55] 12. In My Solitude
[6:23] 13. I Cried for You

Billie Holiday was the Lady of Jazz, her singing and her expressive power for all subsequent Jazzvokalisten. The WDR Big Band Cologne and the singer Cécile Verny have recorded an impressive tribute to the icon of jazz with newly conceived arrangements by Michael Abene on this CD. It contains well-known songs from the repertoire Billie Holidays, including the popular title "Lover Man" as well as the song rarity "Left Alone". (Translated from German.)

Celebrating Billie Holiday

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Arturo Sandoval, WDR Big Band - Mambo Nights

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:55
Size: 155.5 MB
Styles: Latin jazz
Year: 2016
Art: Front

[7:46] 1. Sofrito
[5:34] 2. Come Candela
[6:00] 3. Asi Asi
[6:43] 4. Manteca
[5:17] 5. A Mayra
[4:54] 6. Autumn Leaves
[6:19] 7. Mambo 934
[5:17] 8. Oye Como Va
[6:38] 9. Mambo Sandoval
[4:41] 10. Quiero Ir Contigo
[8:41] 11. Mambo Inn

Paul Shigihara (guitar); Heiner Wiberny, Karolina Strassmayer (alto saxophone); Paul Heller, Olivier Peters (tenor saxophone); Jens Neufang (baritone saxophone); Rob Bruynen, John Marshall , Klaus Osterloh, Andy Haderer, Wim Both (trumpet); Bernt Laukamp, Ludwig Nuss, Tim Coffman (trombone); Mattis Cederberg (bass trombone); Frank Chastenier (piano); Mark Walker (drums); Pernell Saturnino (percussion).

Arturo Sandoval & WDR Big Band “Mambo Nights” In the course of a career that goes back about forty years, Arturo Sandoval has worked on innumerable album productions both as soloist and as side man. With “Mambo Nights” Señor Sandoval has delivered an eloquent example of his qualities as a performer. In the opening piece, “Sofrito” by Mongo Santamaria, Sandoval and the WDR Big Band, in cheerful mood, set the scene of their plan to revive the great era of Afro-Cuban jazz on this album. In this timeless classic, Sandoval at first keeps a low profile, almost as if he were just warming up; then the following track, “Come Candela”, also written by Mongo Santamaria, sets off a magnificent firework display of spectacular trumpet sounds. In particular his high-register solo notes leave the listener gasping and gaping in amazement. As a reporter from the Washington Star once wrote after a concert: “Sandoval reaches notes most trumpeters barely even know.”

Mambo Nights

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