It’s been a great year for big band jazz with this from New Orleans icon Wynton and the latest from the NYC Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra following their fine Juneteenth and Max Roach themed recordings.
Standout releases such as Bianca by Dan Pugach and XL- LX by the Danish Radio Big Band also worked extremely well in 2024 and echo that emotion and reasonably logical conclusion.
The Shanghai Suite is a live recording featuring the famed New York organisation who make their Irish debut just before St Patick’s Day at the NCH.
Wynton Marsalis and special guest clarinettist Ye Huang here recorded in 2022 simply shine.
Very Ellingtonian in places – Marsalis’ chief inspiration being the 20th century Picasso of jazz the Washingtonian – there’s plenty of variety both intimate and boisterous and of course it all swings like a mutha as it should.
Stand outs include the touching piece ‘The Five Elements’ and the exuberant ‘Hot Pot’.
In the orchestra the reeds are agile and intuitive and the trumpet section is powerful and communicative.
A nine-movement work it’s not stuffy at all. It probably does more for diplomacy between the two superpowers of America and China than most politicians could ever dream of achieving. And there’s no bad faith at all which is just as refreshing.
