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The Joy of X, XXL and XXXL. The Big Band is Back!

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Let’s kick the new year off with some joyous, inventive, scorchio sounds that will lift our spirits! And who better to provide this than some really big bands?

Yes I mean XXL! Bouncy, brassy, beaty, classy!

Ever since, as a callow sixth-former, I saw Keef Hartley’s Big Band at Watford Town Hall and Van Morrison and his stupendous large band at the Rainbow Theatre, I’ve been hooked on the sound of a large combo.

In recent years I’ve been delighted by Bellowhead getting the Danish hipsters at Roskilde up and dancing round the tent. Burning Spear with his magnificently irie brass section. Finland’s wacky Leningrad Cowboys feat The Red Army Choir on backing vocals. And many live shows by David Byrne, not least when he toured with St Vincent and a full brass marching band. Magic!

This week an article in the Guardian commented on the comeback of the jazz big band. It mentions Ex Machina an album by (composer and saxophonist) Steve Lehman and France’s 17-strong Orchestre National de Jazz and Kemet (The Black Land) an orchestral album by US American trombonist-composer Javier Nero. London’s Jazz Jamaica, the magnificent Sun Ra Arkestra and Sweden’s Fire Orchestra also get a mention.

Renaissance? Hmmm. Up here in Scandinavia, big bands have been going strong for quite a while.

And when I posted the article on Facebook @Mike_H was rapid to comment: “Northern Europe has some of the best big bands in the world. In particular Germany’s phenomenal NDR big band. In a more southerly direction, Holland has the Metropole Orkest. And then in France there’s Fred Pallem’s Sacre Du Tympan, while here in London we have the Nu Civilisation Orchestra and Jazz Jamaica.” @EssEff then praised the 11-piece Levitation Orchestra and my Finnish pal Juha told me about the Turku Jazz Orchestra.

As the Guardian article makes clear, no one founds or joins a big band for the money.
“The economics of it are really crushing,” says Steve Lehman with a deep sigh. “It’s so difficult to keep a big band together, maintain it, have everybody sort of treated correctly, and have the financial resources to make a big band recording.”
“Aside from having to write all of the music, print all of the music and book all of the musicians, the musicians themselves have to be willing to sacrifice the pay in order to be part of it,” he says. “Most venues don’t set aside extra funds to pay an 18-piece jazz orchestra more than a quartet, so it usually just means the same pay divided more times. I’ve been fortunate to find musicians that love playing enough they are willing to participate despite the low pay.”

So here’s a thread to celebrate those musicians who play in larger combos. All genres welcome!
From Lyle Lovett’s Big Band to the Samba reggae and axé of Brazil’s Timbalada. From Joe Cocker and Mad Dogs and Englishmen to Duke Ellington. And then of course those paragons of sheet music: the Polyphonic Spree.

Let’s hear your favourites!

Here’s that article:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jan/02/jazz-big-band-javier-nero-steve-lehman-orchestre-national-de-jazz?CMP=share_btn_fb&fbclid=IwAR1Da8sLdOUSq0NIhdVvs11_b2pjCo6F4RQlJTRclQbwIRCZZOY1Tga0LAo

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Comments

  1. Live at my favourite jazz club, Fasching in Stockholm, here, all the way from the very frozen north, are the Norrbotten Big Band.

    Someone on FB mentioned that TMBG often have a brass section when playing live.

    • They certainly do! Talk about a supergroup!

      Ginger Baker – drums, percussion, timpani
      Steve Winwood – Hammond organ, bass guitar
      Chris Wood – tenor saxophone, flute
      Graham Bond – Hammond organ, alto saxophone
      Denny Laine – guitars
      Rick Grech – bass guitar, violin
      Remi Kabaka – drums, percussion
      Phil Seamen – drums, percussion
      Harold McNair – tenor and alto saxophones

      I went up to Wembley Stadium where they were playing a freebie at some kind of motoring event. Awful sound and you couldn’t get near the band. I was really put off.

      Listening to them now I realise they really were rather decent.

      What a surprise!

    • Quite superb! I hadn’t heard of the NDR Bigband until @Mike_H mentioned them. And Nikki Iles was also a new name.

      But that hit the spot for me on first listen, I’ll be listening to that album in the next few days. Thanks a lot @fitterstoke.

      Here’s the Frankfurt Radio Big Band with another of Nikki’s compositions.

      • She’s a well-established jazz pianist, branching out to orchestral arranging these days. Her husband, Pete Churchill, is another pianist and he’s the director of the London Vocal Project.
        Here they are, with a fairly large band, singing him one of his songs as a birthday tribute a while back.

  7. Resisting the temptation to post the true greats (Ellington, Basie etc) here’s one of my all time favourites. I defy you to sit still as the track builds and builds.

  8. The first big band I saw joined the dots between the music I was listening to, and opened my ears to much more. A truly magnificent live act too. It is of course Kid Creole and the Coconuts.

    • I recently returned to the first three albums by the No Fish Today Hitmakers. By god they were great. I remember seeing them live on TV at the time and wondering why there weren’t more bands like this, instead of the usual 4 or 5 glum twerps in boiler suits – the only thing comparable seemed to be the then-expanded 1980-1 line-up of Talking Heads.

      • Great as they were, the records don’t come close to their greatness as a live act. There are a few full shows available on YouTube which I would highly recommend.

        • I saw them just the once at the Lyceum Ballroom on the Lifeboat Party tour and they were superb.

          And a mention of their predecessors is well-deserved. Here’s Dr Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band with their one big hit.


  9. This big enough? Jazz quintet+string quartet+bagpipes? It’s Colin Steele’s Stramash, revived and alive, and playing Glasgow’s Celtic Connections in a week or three. Of course I’ll be there!!

  15. 1000 musicians gather together to get Dave Grohl to come and play in Cesena, Italy

    (watched it a few times to try and fin a drummer (or drummers) ever so slightly out of time, but not one found yet)

    • I am NOT a great Foo Fighters fan, But, heavens above!

      You’d have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by that, @Rigit Digit.

      Ooops! I think I may need a hankie!

    • Top notch indeed! @mikethep,

      An awful lot of the bands on this thread have a very strong with their local community.

      How about this? Joan Chamorro’s students playing in ……..Bangalore!! I did not expect that.

    • Thanks for that wonderful triptych, @Junior Wells.

      Big bands, long songs and a party that goes on all night: that’s the African way.

      We could do a whole thread of large African bands. So keep them coming everybody!! Let’s go for it!

      Even Toumani has had an orchestra. I think there’s a certain pressure to put bread in few more mouths if you are successful.

      Personally, I’m quite happy to listen him playing solo!

      Seeing Mory Kante live playing a wonderful long version of Yeke Yeke with an enormous band was magnificent. For this version, he even recruited an unemployed, Latino guitarist.

      • Was Keith the man who put the cack into cacophony?

        It seem only fair that our readers get a chance to listen to a snippet.

        Look at the notes on the second clip. There were some very big names from the British jazz scene involved.

        Hmmmm… I do see what Retro was getting at.

        • I once spent an evening at the B’ham Conservatoire at a Keith Tippet concert of “free jazz”, all six musicians gleefully playing different tunes, in different keys, and at different tempos, all at cross purposes. The audience, bar one, anyway, loved it. Deeply awful.And “tunes” is a kinder description than deserved.

  28. The Grit Orchestra are good. They take their name from the Martyn Bennett album of the same name, and tend to group to commemorate the late bagpipe electronica man and his music.

    • Good example. (After years of enjoying their studio product and disliking them intensely live, they finally won me over to the latter, with a great Glastonbury set, this year, midday in the baking sun.)

        • I’m with Cheshire here. I’ve been a big fan since the days of Rachel Unthanks and the Winterset.

          I heard their version of Robert Wyatt’s Sea Song and I was as lost as an (ancient) mariner bewitched by the sound of mermaids.

          Oddly enough, I’m less keen some of the later material where the songs are over-long and over-orchestrated.

          But that version of King of Rome is magnificent.

  33. Meanwhile, over at Roskilde, I was most definitely in the moshpit for Juan Luis Guerra from the Dominican Republic. What a party his gigs are!

    Latin American dance bands are invariably large and very lively.

    Confronted with music like this, surely the only option is to grab the nearest senorita and indulge in some rigorous cha cha cha?

    • The first live Latin band was a salsa group called Sonido De Londres. It was at a free Sunday afternoon event on Clapham Common. I thought they were fantastic. So good in fact, that when I saw they were playing at Hammersmith Palais I had to get a ticket. They were supporting an act I had never heard of – Celia Cruz and Tito Puente. Sonido de Londres were good, and Celia was incredible. That was me converted to salsa.

      Here she is , this time singing with the Fania Allstars.

    • They’re a marching band. Of course they want to do some marching,@thecheshirecat..

      And if you can combine marching with merching, then all the better.

      A quite wonderful live band. After they had played a stonking set at Roskilde a few years back, they were hanging out at the merch table and very keen to chat with the fans.

      Such very charming guys.

      • Having never seen a New Orleans marching band in the flesh, I bought a ticket to see them at the Cambridge Junction (my least fave venue) in April 2020, then lockdown happened.

        On the date of the rescheduled gig, I was still in Shielding, so gave my ticket to a pal.

        I have still never seen a New Orleans marching band.

        • It’s definetely worth seeing one if you get the chance. I’ve seen Hot 8, Soul Rebels and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. For me, the best of them all is the ReBirth Brass Band. Back in the 80s when we had Go Go from DC and Hip Hop from NYC. The brass bands were New Orleans contribution to these exciting funky sounds coming out of America.

  35. Another one I’ve found.
    Not actually seen this band live but I saw him lead a big band session at The Purcell School For Young Musicians, just across town from my gaff a couple of years before the Great Lockdown.

    • Great discovery , @Mike_H. You are coming up with some gems on this thread.

      As luck would have it, I ran into my Jazz Neighbour, Fredrik, and told him about the current bee in my musical bonnet.

      He recommended lots of stuff.

      Per “Texas” Johansson

      He has a new large band project, Couldn’t find that so I’m posting this gem instead.

      Vilhelm Bromander who has a new album out: In this forever unfolding moment.

      Fredrik expressed his enthusiasm about the Norrbotten Big Band who have a composer in residence every year which results in new compositions, gigs and recordings.

      The most recent was trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire.

      https://norrbottensmusiken.se/ensembler/norrbotten-big-band/composer-in-residence/

      Here’s an excellent interview with him.

      If we’re talking about Swedish jazz, I must mention Goran Kajfes and his Subtropic Arkestra.

      OK , there are only seven of them, but they make a really big sound.

  36. Hilario Duran and his Latin Jazz Band had a new album last year, Cry Me A River, that made my top fifty (not twenty). It was a follow up to From The Heart issued in 2007. It was so big, it took sixteen years to get the band back together!

    • That’s one of the many problems with having a band of any size Tiggs. Getting everyone in the same place at the same time.
      Herding “Cats” is a good analogy.
      Finding a time for rehearsals, let alone the performance)s), when everyone is available is difficult and, as expressed in the article ^up there^, the pay is never good for playing in a large band so players will drop out if something more lucrative gets offered to them.

    • Brilliant! Well remembered, @hubert rawlinson!

      If ever there was a song that celebrated the big band, this is it.

      Just stumbled across this fine version from Judy Garland who is really giving it some welly.

  39. Not the biggest of bands, but I was moved by a couple of obituaries to post a couple of clips of the former Swedish band Aston Reymers Rivaler (RIP Magnus Lind, and his wife, famous musician in her own right, Marie Nilsson Lind).

    First a clip from a weird music show from my childhood, where they play two (well, one and a half – it gets cut short rather abruptly) songs, the first one is “Tvål”:

    Next up is their hit “Godis är gott”, which we happily sang along to during the marches and meetings before the referendum about nuclear power (even though the “middle ground” alternative won, child me would not believe that our current government is trying to build more nuclear power plants – but there are plenty of things going on today that I wouldn’t believe then, and barely believe is true now…)

    And, finally, “Stockholms ström”, just because I love it!

    Makes me miss the late 70a and early 80s…

  41. Thanks Cheshire and Fitter! What wonderful variety, we’re getting. As I’d hoped, this thread is still in delightfully vigorous good health

    I did enjoy that Hilario Duncan track, @Tiggerlion. That gorgeous brass section really hit the spot. Aaaaaaaay! Sabroso!

    But now I’d like to pick your brains about US soul and dance music.

    There have been so many artists who have made wonderful use of large bands and orchestras. So, Tigs, have you any tips about tracks that you particularly like or that we ought to hear?

    Here ar some fine tracks that every civilian on the planet has heard.

    Barry White – it’s like a pizza with extra everything!

    Curtis Mayfield – what a genius!

    And we’ve all seen it before, but this clip of Isaac Hayes form Wattstax, is so magnificent, I just have to post it!

    By contrast, there’s a quite bizarre, very Hollywooody clip on YT of Isaac playing at the Oscars ceremony.

      • Thankyou so much @Tiggerlion! Tower of Power, Elvis Presley and James Brown and the JBs.

        You are spoiling us rotten! The Elvis video was rather wonderful. I liked the way that The King was a mysterious, distant, god-like background figure in the story.

        That Tower of Power clip convinced me that they are a superb live band.

        Here’s a large band who make that Tiny Desk look very small: Trouble Funk from Washington DC.

        Well it’s now midnight on Saturday so I think I dare post a clip of a band so numerous that even George Clinton himself probably didn’t know how many people were on stage. The joyous anarchy of Parliament- Funkadelic.

        It goes on for about 25 minutes. The audience must have been gobsmacked.

        Rather a Marmite clip, I suspect.

  42. Forgive me if there has been a mention above, but my phone doesn’t like all the vids and crashes when I check. Has anyone even acknowledged J***s H*****d’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. I know he is not well liked as a presenter round here, but, in full flight, he and band are a force of nature, as well as giving gainful employ to many an otherwise impoverished jazzer. I have seen them live a number of times and even have some of the albums. The playing is exemplary and the love for the material immense. So there.

  44. Following on from the Timbalada post, Dionne Warwick lived in Brazil for a while and did a great version of Duke Ellington’s Caravan with an afro bloc, whistles, cuicas and all.

  45. One of the pleasures of this thread and Retro’s Stringy epic is finding out a few more details about some of the old favourites posted here and joining the dots together.

    I suspect that @thecheshirecat already knew that the wonderful brass arrangement on When an old cricketer leaves the crease was by Kevin Ayers’s old bandmate David Bedford.

    It’s played by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band who are known from the movie Brassed off and from playing with Peter Skellern on Love is the Sweetest thing.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimethorpe_Colliery_Band

    They also play on this sublime track by Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbot: Loving arms.

    And this one too: Real hope

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