- Autumn in New York
- Confirmation
- Street of Dreams
- Peace / Blue Silver
- So Very Rob
- What Am I Here For
- Sixth Sense
- Stella By Starlight
- Crazy Rhythm
- A Child is Born / Our Waltz
- Things Ain’t what They Used To Be.
Canadian Rob McConnell’s arrangements
have become the "A" levels of
Big Band Music, when played by the best,
there is little difference between his
original ‘Boss Brass’ versions and those
played by the likes of the SWR Big Band
or for that matter the BBC Big Band. The
difficulty of many of them should not
be underestimated; Rob’s arrangements
are not aimed at your average local big
band.
The SWR band is well
up to the challenge, it has both the quality
of soloist required and the precision
in section work and ensembles to come
forward with very creditable performances
of Rob’s charts. Whether this degree of
complexity is necessary, depends on your
point of view. The Basie Band always sounded
superb to me, with arrangements by Neal
Hefti and Frank Foster which, though not
for beginners, were easier to play and
gave the band that wonderful relaxed sound
that is sometimes lacking here.
The soloists in the SWR
Band are excellent, I particularly liked
Axel Kuhn’s solo on Autumn in New York
and Jorg Kaufmann’s tenor work on So Very
Rob. Sixth Sense has a good solo from
Rob McConnell himself on Valve Trombone
and the excellent Klaus Wagenleiter on
piano.
The brass is crisp throughout;
the trumpets handle the many high passages
confidently. The other sections are equally
good and the band’s overall precision
and dynamics are top class. Holger Nell
the drummer swings the band and is very
sympathetic in his backing of the soloists.
This album is well up
to the high standard the SWR Big Band
have set for themselves and this CD is
a must for Big Band fans.
Don Mather
CD Reviews
Hanssler CD 93.107
