(2019-05-23) What Does A21st Century Big Band Sound Like

What Does A 21st Century Big Band Sound Like? A variety of big bands dotted the jazz landscape at the turn of the millenium: revivalists like Wynton Marsalis’ Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, jazz-funk outfits like Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, bands with star crooners like Michael Bublé, and composition-forward ensembles like the Maria Schneider Orchestra. More recently, a number of younger, forward-thinking big bands have emerged, offering fresh visions of how a modern big band should look, sound, function, and fit into the broader world of jazz. Get to know five ensembles that are bringing big band music into focus in the 21st century with this primer.

In the past year, Brainfeeder multi-instrumentalist Louis Cole has arranged several of his funk excursions for the big band format and recorded music videos that combine Vulfpeck’s whimsical visual aesthetic with Zack Villeire’s embrace of white nerd-dom and Snarky Puppy’s insistence on cramming a ton of musicians into a small space. You can hear Cole’s big band at work on his new album Live Sesh and Xtra Songs, but you are better off watching them on YouTube; the popular “F It Up” begins simply enough, with Cole donning mirrored, bug-eyed shades and showcasing his “Axel F”-level synth chops and building out a sturdy ’80s funk groove. The song unexpectedly explodes when he switches to drums and launches into a version of the song played by his 15-piece band that had squeezed into his downstairs living room. Cole left no nook or cranny of his house unused for the purposes of this shoot.

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