SWR Big Band
12 products
Jobim, Maass, Moraes & Shorter: Music Written by Real Life /
PTR1124
As We Speak / Fola Dada, SWR Big Band
Let Freedom Swing / Toshiko Akiyoshi & The Swr Big Band
FRESH TASTE OF THAD JONES AND FRANK FOSTER (A)
MENZA, Don: Voyage
Fun Time And More Live / Sammy Nestico, Swr Big Band
While renowned for his thrilling arrangements of jazz standards, Sammy Nestico is also one of the great jazz composers, as you will hear for yourself on this new recording. In addition to scintillating new arrangements of tunes from the Grammy-nominated "Fun Time," Maestro Nestico adds a sheath of other originals in new charts especially created for the jazz virtuosos of the SWR Big Band.
The result of this latest meeting of the Grand Old man of Swing, with the SWR Big Band will continue to delight jazz collectors everywhere.
"Nestico’s arrangements are mostly about eruptive brass and life-affirming energy, but in the occasional slow piece, like “A Song for Sarah” and “Samantha,” there are rich colors and subtle sonorities which this recording beautifully renders and arrays across a lifelike sound stage." -- Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes.com
A Cool Breeze
Sammy Nestico, the composer-arranger known for his contributions to the Count Basie Orchestra library and whose name is familiar to anyone who’s played in a big band since the 1960s, recently has gone through a highly creative and productive phase. The rise of Nestico’s international profile has been sparked by a period of collaboration with the SWR Big Band of Germany that has produced several masterful albums, including No Time Like The Present (2004), Basie-Cally Sammy (2005), Fun Time (2009) and Fun Time And More (2011). The productive streak continues with this year’s A Cool Breeze, which finds the perpetually developing, 93-year-old orchestrator combining swing, soul, funk, fusion and symphonic expressions in a stylistic manner that’s distinctly modern yet undeniably Nestico. Unlike his previous SWR collaborations, Nestico (who’s based in San Diego) wasn’t able to travel to Germany for these recording sessions, but digital technology allowed him to participate via Skype and high-speed audio file transfer. His signature syncopations, volleying counterpoint passages, tensely stacked fourths, dramatic dynamics and tasteful manner of combining instrumental timbres are all manifest in the SWR Big Band’s impeccable, inspired performance. These dedicated musicians have become so adept at finessing and interpreting Nestico’s work that they actually transcend what’s on the printed page. They turn his carefully crafted charts into memorable works of art that will have toes tappin’ and fingers snappin’ for decades to come. - DownBeat Magazine Editors' Pick
Maria Schneider & SWR Big Band
Concerts with Maria Schneider are something special. They are stylistically not only out of the ordinary, they also manage to bring large orchestras to perform artistically at high voltage, with an energy and at a creative level which is otherwise known only in much smaller ensembles. It is not the music alone that drives the participants, but rather the serene seriousness of a band leader who demands a maximum of intensity from her compositions and passes this premise on to their interpretation. It is impossible to conceive of compositions for jazz orchestras more stringently. The instrumentalists know this too, and therefore feel called upon not only to reproduce the charts accurately but to work out all the contained hints, implications, and visions of sound down to the deepest levels. This original recording was made in May 2000 when Schneider appeared alongside the SWR Big Band. And for the SWR Big Band, those days in May 2000 are some of the highlights of their orchestral history.
Kings of Swing, Op. 2 (Live)
The Musical Advent Calendar
SWR Big Band X Max Mutzke – Soul; Viel; Mehr
