Any Big Band Lovers Out There?

Started by Solar, April 12, 2014, 11:13:37 AM

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Solar

I love the icons of the of yesteryear, like Dorsey, Beneke, Percy Faith, but I just stumbled across one I'd never heard about, the Joe Loss orchestra, probably because he's from across the pond.
So here's a cut called Music to drive by.
His is the longest running band in Britain, I think.

It's one of those pieces that puts a smile on your face. :biggrin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHlhkBTwUOs&feature=kp

Oh, and if you have a frequency expander, kick it in, well worth it.
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kit saginaw

Yeah, I like a lot of 'em if you include composers who conduct their own orchestra's, which is where 'big band' has evolved-to today... less dance-oriented.

Right now, I listen to a lot of Xavier Cugat and Bert Kaempfert.

Solar

Quote from: kit saginaw on April 12, 2014, 06:27:28 PM
Yeah, I like a lot of 'em if you include composers who conduct their own orchestra's, which is where 'big band' has evolved-to today... less dance-oriented.

Right now, I listen to a lot of Xavier Cugat and Bert Kaempfert.
Yes, I love Bert's orchestra, both are excellent.  :cool:
I have a feeling this is probably the last generation for real instruments, anyway, on the scale we see today, too many up and comers in music are synthesizing music.
One guy can make an entire orchestra on a keyboard.
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kit saginaw

Quote from: Solar on April 12, 2014, 06:48:56 PM
Yes, I love Bert's orchestra, both are excellent.  :cool:
I have a feeling this is probably the last generation for real instruments, anyway, on the scale we see today, too many up and comers in music are synthesizing music.
One guy can make an entire orchestra on a keyboard.

It seems to've topped-out though.  I think it would've already happened.  Nothing beats real instruments.

Synthesized stuff is okay for dance-clubs.



Solar

Quote from: kit saginaw on April 13, 2014, 04:15:58 AM
It seems to've topped-out though.  I think it would've already happened.  Nothing beats real instruments.

Synthesized stuff is okay for dance-clubs.
Don't know, but if I were a 7 year old kid I'd be looking at synthesized music because it would be fun and a quick learn, as opposed to hours and hours of repetitive noise.
I just don't see that many looking at one instrument, when they can make the sound of all of them, kids just aren't interested in the quality of sound or history of an instrument, they just want to be proficient now, rather than years from now.
Path of least resistance always wins out...
This is just my observation, I'd like to be wrong, but I just don't see the interest by kids today.
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quiller

The Detroit-area venues are bottom-line-oriented. If you pay say $100/musician, you'd better take in at least 200% of that at the gate. Smaller-stage venues can't do it, and the touring bands these days tend to be "ghost bands" bearing big orchestra names but none of the original members (and in a few cases nobody who ever even PLAYED with original members). They want more than small houses can pay or find room for seats to fill, paying it off.

Cliff Bell's in Detroit offers that large stage and what I believe to be volunteer or cut-price musicians who do NOT use synth or loops or any of the other stuff. Scott Gwinnell Orchestra has put out a couple of albums from there, and I think Johnnie Bassett has as well.

Across town, at the world's longest-running jazz club, Baker's Keyboard Lounge, the stage is tiny and the bands aren't nearly as large, but the albums recorded there are frequent and so are the international visitors, thirsting for even a taste of those halcyon days of glitter, romance and large-experience music.

Economics, y'all.

Solar

Quote from: quiller on April 13, 2014, 03:15:02 PM
The Detroit-area venues are bottom-line-oriented. If you pay say $100/musician, you'd better take in at least 200% of that at the gate. Smaller-stage venues can't do it, and the touring bands these days tend to be "ghost bands" bearing big orchestra names but none of the original members (and in a few cases nobody who ever even PLAYED with original members). They want more than small houses can pay or find room for seats to fill, paying it off.

Cliff Bell's in Detroit offers that large stage and what I believe to be volunteer or cut-price musicians who do NOT use synth or loops or any of the other stuff. Scott Gwinnell Orchestra has put out a couple of albums from there, and I think Johnnie Bassett has as well.

Across town, at the world's longest-running jazz club, Baker's Keyboard Lounge, the stage is tiny and the bands aren't nearly as large, but the albums recorded there are frequent and so are the international visitors, thirsting for even a taste of those halcyon days of glitter, romance and large-experience music.

Economics, y'all.
I know I'm a dreamer, but wouldn't it be great if the next generation discovers and embraces this music?
Rap destroyed an entire generation.
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quiller

Quote from: Solar on April 13, 2014, 06:29:57 PM
I know I'm a dreamer, but wouldn't it be great if the next generation discovers and embraces this music?
Rap destroyed an entire generation.

Well, when rock came in about 1954 or so, the Swing Era people were saying the same thing...and they were right. I grew up listening to EVERYTHING, from classical to rock ("CKLW, the Big 8," the #1 rock station in North America). Pop music always won out over longhair, and that's where advertisers went...with the popular.

On that note, I think I'll cue up my CD of "The Music Man"...and listen to that wonderful barbershop quartet, The Buffalo Bills.

TboneAgain

Let's keep in mind too that non-real or "synthetic" (or whatever other name) instruments are not necessarily bad. Purists hated the advent of many things, such as the electric keyboard, the electric guitar, the steel guitar, etc., on and on. Steel strings, especially, on ANYTHING, were hated.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. -- Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; IT IS FORCE. -- George Washington

quiller

Quote from: TboneAgain on May 23, 2014, 09:08:29 PM
Let's keep in mind too that non-real or "synthetic" (or whatever other name) instruments are not necessarily bad. Purists hated the advent of many things, such as the electric keyboard, the electric guitar, the steel guitar, etc., on and on. Steel strings, especially, on ANYTHING, were hated.

I could never understand classical music --- even failed a college class on it --- until I heard the amazing first electronic rendition of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, by Walter (now Wendy) Carlos. Switched-On Brandenburgs remains a true gap between musical generations, 40-odd years later.

Purists loathed it. Now it's played on classical stations...as a "novelty."  What made it more amazing was this stereo production consisted of two separate tracks of Moog Machineā„¢ tones individually spliced together and then mixed into the final, exhaustively-complex final product. Thousands and thousands of manual tape edits...before computer music assembly. It's a work of true genius in its own right.

SVPete

If anyone uses Pandora, the Henry Mancini "channel" is very much like the music linked in the OP. I like the originals - Dorsey Brothers, Goodman, Miller, et al, and the jazz side of the style (e.g. Ellington). On the modern & current side, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is like swing on steroids, and they've been together (same people) for 21 years. Great to hear and see live!
SVPete

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Those who can, do.
Those who know, teach.
Ignorant incapables, regulate.

Solar

Quote from: SVPete on May 25, 2014, 08:29:18 AM
If anyone uses Pandora, the Henry Mancini "channel" is very much like the music linked in the OP. I like the originals - Dorsey Brothers, Goodman, Miller, et al, and the jazz side of the style (e.g. Ellington). On the modern & current side, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is like swing on steroids, and they've been together (same people) for 21 years. Great to hear and see live!
I'll have to try the Mancini station, sounds right up my alley. :thumbsup:
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SVPete

The Mancini "station" is mostly instrumental. If you like older vocal music, the Mills Brothers "station" (to which I'm currently listening, BTW) is worth a try, also. It has artists such as the Mills Brothers, the Ink Spots ("If I Didn't Care", "Java Jive"), Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra ...
SVPete

Envy is Greed's bigger, more evil, twin.

Those who can, do.
Those who know, teach.
Ignorant incapables, regulate.

Solar

Quote from: SVPete on May 26, 2014, 06:59:35 AM
The Mancini "station" is mostly instrumental. If you like older vocal music, the Mills Brothers "station" (to which I'm currently listening, BTW) is worth a try, also. It has artists such as the Mills Brothers, the Ink Spots ("If I Didn't Care", "Java Jive"), Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra ...
Something I've noticed with Pandora, no matter who or what you choose as your genre, Pandora tends to give you similar choices as you listen, be it Sinatra, or early Beach boys as your starting point, eventually through your selections, one station is indistinguishable from the other.

I now have three stations, all of which started with differing tastes, eventually wound up having the same artists in the end.
Here is the stations I started with. Bob Newhart Theme from the Vermont Inn show- The Stratford Inn by Henry Mancini, The Beach boys and Tommy Dorsey.

All of these stations over time wound up identical. I believe that despite Pandora's claims of millions of songs available, they only offer an inkling of whats available to them, probably due to cataloging via genre, type, rhythm, era, tempo, I don't blame them, it's quite the undertaking.
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kit saginaw

Miss Flaming Red...

Rhonda Fleming - Baby, baby all the time

I believe the Nelson Riddle Orchestra is backing...