MUNICH SWING ORCHESTRA

Munich Swing Orchestra 

Route 66

Not quite the four Freshmen. But they do stay true to their name Swing Orchestra and they do it quite well

With the evergreens of the 1940s, the Orchestra revives the indestructible sound of the big swing bands, reviving the legends Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and their contemporaries.

Stylistically, the Big Band builds on the great tradition of the American swing era and presents one highlight after the other in a classical instrumentation with 5 saxophones, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, piano, guitar, bass and drums.

The spirited program with legendary hit songs like "In The Mood", "One O'clock Jump", "Sweet Georgia Brown", "Stardust", "Autumn Leaves", "Li'l Darlin '", "Moonlight Serenade", "Let's Dance" and many other swing goodies conjure up a pleasing smile on the listener's lips and make your feet rock.

Melodies that have lost none of their charming charm after almost 80 years have brought the MUNICH SWING ORCHESTRA already glittering performances to the most different engagements (balls, anniversaries, receptions, and many other events) and testify to the high achievement potential of the orchestra.

Artful instrumental improvisations by professional musicians from well-known orchestras such as Max Greger, Hugo Strasser and James Last unfold.
Bouncy brass sets, a steady forward rhythm section and fluidly swinging solos, all in the compact sound of a well-rehearsed big band, make the Apple Honey taste good, bring back memories of Harlem Nocturne, and invite you to dream of the land "Over the Rainbow ".

Highlights of the band's history are the many concerts and gala performances as well as special guests like Hugo Strasser, Bibi Johns, Edith Prock, Bruno de Filippi, the Canadian singer Nina Michélle and Paul Tanner (band member of the original Glenn Miller Band).

With a special program for dance events, the band has repeatedly enjoyed great success, for example in the "German Theater" or at "Paulaner am Nockherberg".
After annual appearances in the "museum mobile", the big band is something of the house band of the "Audi Forum Ingolstadt" and known there as "the virtuoso-charming gentlemen in the white dinner jackets".

The orchestra has co-produced with the "AUDI AG", the "Bayerischer Rundfunk" and the "Birdland Jazzclub Neuburg" the 500th broadcast of the cult series of the Bayerischer Rundfunk "Jazz traveling", Bavaria 4 with Peter Machac recorded in April 2004. The CD "MUNICH SWING ORCHESTRA & NINA MICHELLE ".

With a faithful reproduction of the original arrangements, a concert with the MUNICH SWING ORCHESTRA will be the perfect musical experience, reminiscent of the great days of swing enthusiasm and oriented towards the legendary role models in the mainstream.

WDR BIG BAND

WDR BIG BAND

Vince Mendoza, Composer in Residence - Noche Triste 

The origin of the today's WDR Big Band Cologne lies with the "Cologne Broadcasting Dance Orchestra" active in August 1946 at the then NWDR Cologne (the predecessor of today's WDR), which was under the direction of Otto Gerdes and in alternation with the Radio-Tanzorchester Hamburg under Kurt Wege in the only program of the NWDR occurred.

Already in the autumn of 1947, Otto Gerdes joined as conductor to an orchestra of the Südwestfunk (SWF). It was replaced by Adalbert Luczkowski , who had been active in the string section of the "German Dance and Entertainment Orchestra" founded in the war and possibly wanted to continue the tradition of this band in Cologne. At least the existing orchestra was called "Kölner Tanz- und Unterhaltungsorchester" (KTUO). Soloists of this orchestra included Heinz Schachtner (trumpet), Erich Well (trombone) and saxophonists Eddie Raisner and Paul Peuker.

Adalbert Luczkowski conducts the Dance and Entertainment Orchestra (1954)

At the end of the 1950s, WDR discovered a love of jazz . Since the existing KTUO was not designed for this, Kurt Edelhagen was commissioned to set up a jazz big band . In 1957, Kurt Edelhagen moved from the SWF to the WDR and brought three musicians from his previous band to Cologne. All the others he sought all over Europe together, and with musicians from eight nations, the band was complete. However, the composition changed constantly, as Edelhagen was known for a strong "wear" of musicians. The new "Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra", however, remained an independent band under the name of its director and was not a "broadcasting orchestra". Only Edelhagen had a work contract with the WDR, which had to be renewed annually. In this respect, he can only be considered in a broader sense as the forerunner of the "WDR Big Band". Only after the dissolution of his contract by the WDR in late 1972 and the associated end of his own big band Edelhagen recorded between 1976 and 1980 recordings with the "WDR Dance Orchestra". ^[1]

Adalbert Luczkowski retired on 1 January 1966. His successor was in 1967 the former head of the RIAS Tanzorchester Berlin, Werner Müller. The Cologne Dance and Entertainment Orchestra under the direction of Adalbert Luczkowski and then Werner Müller played for a time parallel with the Edelhagen band at WDR. At times, Werner Müller combined the musicians of his band with the strings of the WDR Radio Orchestra to form the "Great Entertainment Orchestra of the WDR". With him came the name "WDR Dance Orchestra" and later "WDR Big Band". In September 1987 Wolfgang Hirschmann became the first sound engineer and producer of the WDR Big Band Cologne; From 1996 to January 2002 Hirschmann was her orchestra manager, whose repertoire he constantly expanded. Lucas Schmid followed him on this course.

Chief Conductor since 2016 is Bob Mintzer . At the same time, Vince Mendoza was introduced to the band as the composer in residence.

Since 2004, Karolina Strassmayer (alto saxophone) is the first female member of the orchestra. Since 2014, the orchestra has also had a brass player with Shannon Barnett . The WDR Big Band Cologne has received several awards.

THE METROPOLE ORCHESTRA

The Metropole Orchestra conducted by Vince Mendoza

 "Bebop"

AllMusic Review by Michael G. Nastos  

Vince Mendoza has arranged and composed some of the most startlingly impressive symphonic jazz of modern times, but El Viento might be his most ambitious project. Teamed with the Netherlands-based Metropole Orchestra, Mendoza's idea to make grandiose music based on the persona of poet, playwright, painter, and pianist Federico Garcia Lorca is not only a stroke of genius, but well conceived and executed with the extraordinary talents of this large ensemble. This idea was essentially initialized by Lorca himself in 1931 as the Ur-Lorca Project, formalized in 1979 by vocalist Camaron de la Isla and composer/producer Ricardo Pachon, further formulated by Niko Langenhuijsen and his group Caoutchouc in 1992. By 1998's centennial celebrations of the birth of Lorca, this concept via Langenhuijsen's arrangements had grown into a full-blown fusion of Spanish flamenco, big-band jazz, and Lorca's word play as performed live in Utrecht. Ten years later, the modernized concepts of Lorca (who died in 1936) come to full fruition via Mendoza and Metropole. This was far from a simple feat, as Mendoza's jazz-oriented charts are both beautifully soaring and complex in their development. The band pulls it off brilliantly, with encouragement from the magnificent lead singers Eva de Dio or Rafael de Utrera, expressing the folkloric Spanish style, the cante jondo (deep song), duende fever, and flamenco-inspired music so much a part of this culture. High drama is the key to these compositions, especially during the three-part suite "Historietas Del Viento," composed and arranged by Langenhuijsen. Upper horizon strings and a vocal choir moves to a rich, jazzed samba/flamenco-flavored chart, and the acoustic or electric guitar of Daniel Mendez, with a 12/8 section driving the expressive, emotional singing of De Dio to conclusive heights. Joan Albert Amargos contributes charts of traditional pieces; the spoken word intro to jazz waltz swinger "De Los Cuatros Muleros" and tender "Los Mozos De Monleon" with an oboe or harp respectively brightening things up. Pachon revisits two of his compositions -- "La Cancion Del Mariquita" via Mendoza's chart in a majestic and upbeat flamenco as lofty high strings hover over Marc Scholten's Michael Brecker-like neo-bop tenor sax solo, and "La Leyenda Del Tiempo," which again showcases the tenor, this time inspired by dance tap from Daniel Navarro, hand clapping, and a quick, joyous refrain. Two other traditional pieces are adapted by Mendoza, as "La Tarara" uses the most folkish acoustic approach with strings and an excited flamenco-derived pace, while "Sevillanas Del Siglo XVIII" is the group at its most festive, using castanets and a 6/8 shout-out vocal style for purely seductive, fever-pitched purposes. This was originally a 90-minute concert presentation, edited and abridged somewhat here for the CD format. If you are familiar with Lorca's poems, you will certainly hear them come to life on this remarkable recording, but if discovering them for the first time, you can easily be captivated by their beauty, strength, and resolve so much the centerpiece of Spanish heritage, an old world, heartfelt passion that still remains in our modern era. Bravo!

Seija Teeuwen

Violin

Vince Mendoza & the Metropole Orchestra

Primary Artist

Efrain Toro

Percussion

Eduardo Reyes

Percussion Engineer

Geoff Pesche

Mastering

Daniel Mendez

Guitar, Soloist

Hans Van Der Zanden

Group Member

Roel Koster

Group Member

Herman Van Haaren

Group Member, Violin

Marianne Van Den Heuvel

Group Member, Violin

Arlia de Ruiter

Group Member, Violin

Marijn Rombout

Group Member, Violin

David Peijnenborgh

Group Member, Violin

Vera Laporeva

Group Member, Violin

Wim Kok

Group Member, Violin

Dennis Koenders

Group Member, Violin

Sarah Koch

Group Member, Violin

Linda Dumessie

Group Member, Violin

Lucia Domski

Group Member, Violin

Erica Korthals Altes

Group Member, Violin

Alexandra Welch

Group Member, Viola

Iris Schut

Group Member, Viola

Julia Jowett

Group Member, Viola

Mieke Honingh

Group Member, Viola

Jelle Schouten

Group Member, Trumpet

Jan Hollander

Group Member, Trumpet

Henk Heijink

Group Member, Trumpet

Ruud Breuls

Group Member, Trumpet

Bart Van Lier

Group Member, Trombone

Jan Oosting

Group Member, Trombone

Jan Bastiani

Group Member, Trombone

Martin van den Berg

Group Member, Trombone, Trombone (Bass)

Marc Scholten

Group Member, Saxophone

Leo Janssen

Group Member, Saxophone

Paul van der Feen

Group Member, Saxophone

Max Boeree

Group Member, Saxophone

Jos Beeren

Group Member, Saxophone

Hans Vroomans

Group Member, Piano

Frank Wardenier

Group Member, Percussion

Murk Jiskoot

Group Member, Percussion

Willem Luijt

Group Member, Oboe

Joke Schonewille

Group Member, Harp

Peter Tiehuis

Group Member, Guitar (Electric)

Mariël Van Den Bos

Flute, Group Member

Janine Abbas

Flute, Group Member

Andy Waterman

Engineer

Jonathan Allen

Editing, Engineer, Mixing

Arno van Nieuwenhuize

Drums, Group Member

Jaap Branderhorst

Double Bass, Group Member

Daniel Navarro

Dancer

Dan Navarro

Dancer, Soloist

Eduardo Arroyo

Cover Art

Arend Liefkes

Contrabass, Double Bass, Group Member

Vince Mendoza

Conductor, Primary Artist, Producer

Traditional

Composer

Ricardo Pachon

Composer

José Heredia

Composer

Elin Carlson

Choir/Chorus

Cindy Bourquin

Choir/Chorus

Jennifer Barnes

Choir/Chorus

Emile Visser

Cello, Group Member

Bastiaan Van Der Werf

Cello, Group Member

Annie Tangberg

Cello, Group Member

Maarten Jansen

Cello, Group Member

Wim Grin

Cello, Group Member

Jascha Albracht

Cello, Group Member

Udo Demandt

Cajon, Soloist

Janine Teepen

Bassoon

Jan Willem Van Der Ham

Bassoon, Group Member

GREG RUVOLO

Greg Ruvolo's Big Band Collective

Milestones

Greg is no stranger to the music business. He has performed internationally with such names as Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Gerry Mulligan, Louis Bellson, Woody Herman, Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops, as well as a 30-year career as a NY studio Musician and playing in the pit orchestras of the Broadway Theaters.

Our Big Band is a hand picked collection and collaboration of some of the finest musicians I know. These instrumentalists (both men and women) are from different ethnic backgrounds and countries residing here in New York City and each bringing their unique personality and musical experience with them. I like to mix up the age groups as well when considering who to offer a chair to in the band. Our ages span from the mid-twenties to over 70. This also brings a rich variety of experience and energy to the music. Many of us have recorded, traveled and performed with some of the legends of the Jazz world including: Ray Charles, Count Basie, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Gerry Mulligan, and Benny Goodman to name a few.

Trumpet Solo: Jon Saraga

Piano Solo: Lee Tomboulian

Alto Solo: Andrew Gould

Left to Right

Trumpets

Greg Ruvolo, Bryan Davis (Lead), Irv Grossman, Jon Saraga

Trombones

Sara Jacovino, Larry Farrell, George McMullen, Dale Turk

Saxes

Ralph LaLama, Alejandro Avilez, Andrew Gould (Lead), Sam Dillon, Paul Nedzela

Piano

Lee Tomboulian

Bass

Marty Kenney

Drums

Tony Tedesco

WOODY HERMAN

Woody Herman

The Hut

Here is Woody’s ill-fated recording at Chess records in Chicago. Chess was the premier studio in the country for blues, not so much for big band jazz. But a couple of interesting things about this recording are that, like many of the big bands in that time period, it was made up of many North Texas alumni.  On this there were the following:

Pete Dalbis (he only attended one year) Tom Malone, Alan Gauvin, Ed Soph and while not a student, Bob Burgess who had moved there a few years prior.

Also, Chicago guitar player Phil Upchurch was drafted to play the pop guitar parts.

AllMusic Review by Jason Ankeny

The Richard Evans-produced Heavy Exposure is a bold if ultimately unsuccessful attempt to fuse Woody Herman's signature big-band approach with more contemporary soul-jazz and bossa nova sensibilities, embracing pop hits like "Aquarius," "My Cherie Amour" and "Sex Machine" alongside more conventional jazz fare like Herbie Mann's "Memphis Underground," the record simply casts too wide a net, and never settles into a coherent groove. That being said, there are some choice cuts here, most notably the funky "The Hut" and a blistering reading of the Isley Brothers' "It's Your Thing," and to Herman's credit the album's commercial overtures feel neither forced nor awkward.

Bill Chase (tp,arr) Bill Byrne, Harry Hall, Richard Murphy, Rigby Powell (tp) Bob Burgess, Pete Dalbis, Tom Malone (tb) Woody Herman (cl,as,ss,vcl) Sal Nistico, Steve Lederer, Frank Vicari (ts) Alan Gauvin (bar) John Hicks (p) Donny Hathaway (org) Phil Upchurch (g) Gene Perla (b) Ed Soph (d) Richard Powell, Marshall Thompson (perc) Richard Evans (arr)

DIVA

DIVA BIG BAND

Sherrie Maricle Bern 1998

When Sherrie Maricle was in the fourth grade she wanted to play the trumpet. “I was told that girls didn’t play the trumpet and my choice was either the flute or the clarinet,” she says. Sherrie didn’t like playing the clarinet and she didn’t like her music teacher, either. “I was thinking that maybe I wouldn’t do music anymore.” In the seventh grade, another teacher took Sherrie to see Buddy Rich. “I remember sitting in the last row of the balcony and when they played the first note being covered in goosebumps just thinking, `Oh!’ That’s what I want to do,” she says. “I ran home and I told my mother that I was going to be a drummer, a big-band drummer. My mother thought it was a phase.”

Not only did Sherrie become a drummer, she also formed her own big band, DIVA, an all-female group of talented musicians that is now appearing at Arena Stage in Maurice Hines Is Tappin’ Through Life. The musicians back up Maurice and the other dancers with a bold, brass sound that has the audience clappin’ and tappin’ along. “When I was growing up there were big bands on the road all the time and now there just aren’t,” says Sherrie. “A lot of times people are like, `wow, we haven’t seen this in a long time.’ I think the energy can be felt by the audience.”

The energy evident with the all female band is “very strong.” She adds: “It’s powerful and, at the same time, it’s enthusiastic as in the nature of women giving and nurturing at the same time. We’re supportive of Maurice and certainly of each other. And I think the energy can be felt by the audience. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we’re always grateful to be there and getting to perform this music together.”

Sherrie says that Maurice’s current show came together gradually over time. “It’s something that we’ve been talking about and has been evolving for over 20 years, the chronology of his life dance activity which he spent his entire life doing. He was constantly talking about music and those entertainers that have inspired him and influenced his life.”

Hines will turn 70 in December and like so many others, Sherrie admires his energy and stamina. “I think part of being in the business that we’re in, it keeps you very young,” she says. “He really does love the audience and that energy exchange between everybody on the stage and those in the theater seats is the key to his energy and his enthusiasm and actually his youthfulness. It’s something he loves doing.”

In April and May the DIVAs will travel with Maurice Hines Is Tappin’ Thru Life to Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Cleveland. But the band has another exciting opportunity coming up in January. “We are going to be recording all of the music for the Macy’s July 4th Fireworks Show on NBC,” says Sherrie, adding that the group will also be writing a lot of the music. Macy’s likes to change up the theme of its spectacular fireworks display show each year. In 2014, the theme will be jazz. “It’s a huge exciting project; we are definitely going to be rehearsing for that in December,” Sherrie says. One fascinating fact she discovered: the music is written first and the fireworks are choreographed to compliment the music. “It was suggested that when we do our arrangements we think about the bombs bursting in air, how fireworks look in the sky, and try to think of musical things to accompany that.”

DIVA commissions all of its music. “You’ll never see DIVA playing an arrangement of anyone else’s,” says Sherrie. DIVA has a new CD coming out in early 2014 recorded at Lincoln Center and featuring Nancy Wilson and Marlena Shaw, “two of the most glorious, swinging diva voices in jazz.” DIVA’s smaller group has a CD that was recorded at the country’s oldest jazz club in the Delaware Water Gap in Pennsylvania called the Deer Head Inn.

With all the places she performs whether with or without the DIVAs, which one is her favorite? “My favorite jazz club is definitely Dizzys Jazz at Lincoln Center,” she says. “I love the times we’ve been featured at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops. I play in that orchestra all the time so just to play in Carnegie Hall is such a blessing and a miracle. It’s an incredible venue and the reverence that I have putting my feet on that stage, it’s pretty overwhelming sometimes.”

DIVA members also play with other bands, including top military bands. And Sherrie has two other bands, Five Play (above), DIVA’s sister group comprised of the large ensemble’s rhythm section and two of its foremost soloists, and the DIVA Jazz Trio, with Tomoko Ohno, piano, and Noriko Ueda, bass. Sherrie also performs with The New York Pops.

Sherrie says when putting together the band for the Maurice Hines show, it was “a miracle” that key DIVA members lived in Washington. Theater rules require that a certain number of union members from Washington be used in a DC production. Washington-based musicians include Liesl Whitaker, lead trumpet player; Jennifer Krupa, trombone; Leigh Pilzer, baritone saxophone; Camille Thurman, tenor saxophone; and Amy Shook, bass. Musicians from New York besides Sherrie, include Jami Dauber, trumpet and Sharel Cassity, lead alto saxophone. The pianist, Janelle Gill, is not a DIVA member, but Sherrie praised her talents. “It was the first time we worked with Janelle, but she could really swing; she’s a great player.”

Within the show, each member of the band is given the opportunity to shine. “It’s really important for me to feature every woman in the band because each has a great unique talent,” she says. “It certainly makes the players feel an engagement, that we appreciate them, and then allowing the audience to appreciate them, too, as individuals.”

Liesl Sagartz, Louise Baranger, Ingrid Jensen, Elaine Burt (tp) Lolly Bienenfeld, Audrey Morrison, Lee Hill Kavanaugh (tb) Sweet Sue Terry, Carol Chaikin (as) Virginia Mayhew, Laura Dreyer (ts) Claire Daly (bar) Janice Friedman (p) Mary Ann McSweeny (b) Sherrie Maricle (d,ldr,arr) Michael Abene, John LaBarbera, Tommy Newsom (arr)

BIG PHAT BAND

James Morrison

auditioning for 

The Big Phat Band trumpet section

I love you all, but there is little doubt that trumpet players are in need of professional help

TRUMPETS:  Willie Murillo, Wayne Bergeron, James Morrison, Chad Choopman, Dan Savant. 

ROY FRANK ORCHESTRA

Roy Frank Orchestra

Harlem Nocturne

The Roy Frank Orchestra

Do you remember the era of great German television, dance and show orchestras? Would your guests enjoy such a musical journey back through time that makes their feet dance? A great evening out needs not only the best location, an elegant ambience and fantastic food but, even more importantly, the ideal music.

The Roy Frank Orchestra offers both you and your guests music perfectly tailored to suit your specific wishes. Fantastic dance music is presented in the traditional way, from swinging slow fox to the popular twist or cha-cha-cha, from elegant background music for dinner to that classic big band sound for dancing.

The permanent members of the orchestra belong to the crème de la crème of Hamburg’s music scene and are comprised of five saxophones, three trumpets, three trombones, piano, bass and drums along with band leader Roy Frank. The musicians create an authentic sound, different from other dance bands, through their great enjoyment of this music and their high artistic standards. The Roy Frank Orchestra plays everything live and performs German and American hits in the official dance tempi.

The Roy Frank Orchestra plays the music of German radio and television big bands of the 50s and 60s. The sounds of Max Greger, James Last and Erwin Lehn make up the program of Hamburg’s new big band. The orchestra provides the soundtrack to good old family television evenings with cheese and crackers and plates of hors d’oeuvres.

Their own show with hits from the big screen and television as well as the classic hits from the times of the economic boom of the 50’s ‘til today excites audiences; at the same time, the orchestra can also accompany national and international artists.

This dance orchestra is not only a treat to the ears due to their unique sound, but is also great on the eyes through their elegant appearance. Next to the gleaming sound of the orchestra the silver saxophone of Roy Frank shines in the spotlights of the ballroom when the band leader blows popular melodies from his horn. Pure energy!

Click on our audio samples and experience the music of the Roy Frank Orchestra.

WDR BIG BAND - KURT ELLING

Kurt Elling & Rich DeRosa

Freedom Songs 

WDR Big Band

Here is some more big band music aus Deutschland.
I am personally a big fan of Kurt Elling. And I would be arrested and thrown in jail if I disrespected Eddie Harris’ Freedom Jazz Dance. He is a legend in Chicago.