Warren Vaché and The New York City All-Star Big Band - Swingtime! (August 2021 nagel heyer records)

Nearly 100.000 enthusiastic spectators enjoyed the Swingtime!-US-tour in early 2000.

"It is a fresh recording by an all-star group of creative improvisers with impeccable swing credentials."

- Ed Berger

Warren Vaché has never been an innovator, but he's always been impressively consistent. Recorded in January 2000, this German release finds the cornetist leading a swing-oriented 11-piece band that includes, among others, Rickey Woodard and Harry Allen on tenor sax, Randy Reinhart on trumpet, Steve Ash on piano, and Jake Hanna on drums. Swingtime! is more arranged than Vaché's small group recordings, which means that he doesn't have as much room to stretch out and blow. But the arrangements are tasteful, and Vaché's band (which he calls the New York City All-Star Big Band) swings passionately on two Louis Jordan classics ("Saturday Night Fish Fry" and "Let the Good Times Roll") and warhorses like Benny Goodman's "Stompin' at the Savoy," Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin'," and Count Basie's "Jumpin' at the Woodside." Vaché's least likely choice is "Mr. Bojangles," which isn't typical swing band fare, but works well for this outfit. One wishes that his band would surprise us more often; but all things considered, Swingtime! is an enjoyable, if less than essential, addition to his catalogue. AllMusic Review by Alex Henderson

1. Swingtime! 03:03

2. From This Moment On 05:19

3. I've Got My Fingers Crossed 03:58

4. Mr. Bojangles 04:02

5. The Way You Look Tonight 04:39

6. Stompin' at the Savoy 06:13

7. B. D. Blues 08:27

8. Jumpin' at the Woodside 03:16

9. A Portrait of Jenny 04:38

10. Ain't Misbehavin' 03:55

11. Saturday Night Fish Fry 06:30

12. When You're Smiling 03:18

13. Let the Good Times Roll 05:00

Warren Vaché – trumpet, vocals

Randy Reinhart - trumpet

John Allred - trombone

Matt Bilyk - trombone

Chuck Wilson – alto sax, clarinet

Harry Allen – tenor sax

Rickey Woodard – tenor sax

Alan Barnes – saxes, clarinet

Steve Ash - piano

Murray Wall - bass

Jake Hanna - drums

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Randy Sandke - Uptown Lowdown / A Jazz Salute to the Big Apple (May 2021 nagel heyer records)

"The solos ring true; the band warms the room. Uptown Lowdon is jazz music of the highest quality. Why can't all dream bands sound like this?"

- Cadence

It took a German recording team to enable trumpeter/arranger Randy Sandke to assemble this all-American, 12-piece ensemble for a panorama of New York-inspired tunes, recorded in the Big Apple in the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse as part of the 1999 JVC Jazz Festival. In doing so, he raided the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, as well as several independent history-minded players in the area, and emerged with a band that fires off the numbers with crisp virtuosity in any idiom called for. Thankfully, there is also more than enough gusto in the playing, due in no small part to the live festival recording situation.

"The Harlem Medley," a lengthy leadoff stream of delicacies from the land of Ellingtonia, gets close enough to the Ellington sound to convey the idea without being slavishly imitative or ghostly. The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra boys know their Ellington craft well and apply the plunger mutes accordingly. From there, the band doubles back to Dixieland, works its way up to swing, and slides without a glitch into bebop ("Scrapple From the Apple"), a Mingus shuffle blues ("Nostalgia in Times Square"), transitional Coltrane ("Grand Central"), and some Monk ("52nd Street Theme"), before being deposited back in Harlem by -- naturally -- the "'A' Train."

In between the main tour stops, Concord Jazz teammates guitarist Howard Alden and clarinetist Ken Peplowski serve up another of their fluid duets on Irving Berlin's "Slumming on Park Avenue." Other high points include clarinetist Allan Vaché wailing in the trad flagwaver "Chinatown" and trumpeters Sandke and Warren Vaché duking it out on "42nd Street." In all, a well-recorded souvenir of what sounds like a heartwarming local celebration. AllMusic Review by Richard S. Ginell

1. Echoes of Harlem / Drop Me Off in Harlem 03:07

2. Jungle Nights in Harlem 03:37

3. Boys from Harlem 03:33

4. Sugar Hill Penthouse 02:31

5. Blue Belles of Harlem 03:07

6. Harlem Speaks 05:28

7. Chinatown, My Chinatown 03:09

8. Rose of Washington Square / Broadway Rose 06:43

9. Slumming on Park Avenue 05:13

10. 42nd Street 05:59

11. Scrapple from the Apple 05:48

12. Nostalgia in Times Square 08:14

13. Grand Central 08:31

14. Grand Central 04:42

15. Take the "A" Train 07:46

16. What's New * 05:09

* Bonus Track

Randy Sandke - trumpet

Warren Vaché - trumpet

Wycliffe Gordon - trombone

Ken Peplowski - clarinet, tenor sax

Allan Vaché - clarinet

Scott Robinson - alto sax, tenor sax, flute

Joe Temperley - baritone sax

Howard Alden - guitar

Eric Reed - piano

Mark Shane - piano

Rodney Whitaker - bass

Joe Ascione - drums

Recorded live at the 1999 JVC Jazz Festival New York.

Directed by Randy Sandke.

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