50 YEARS SWR BIG BAND
(CK Records CK00601)
A Night In Tunisia, Take The A-Train, Once
Upon A Summertime, MacArthur Park, Lush Life, Caravan, Oleo, Broadway,
Just One Of Those Things, Well You Needn't, Where Or When, Somewhere
.....
Soloists: Chet Baker, Buddy Tate,
Maynard Ferguson, Barney Kessel, Don Ellis, Albert Mangelsdorff, Arturo
Sandoval, Buddy de Franco, Frank Foster, Bob Mintzer, Herb Geller, Jean
Toots Thielemans, Charly Antolini, Ack van Rooyen, Frank Rosolino, Clark
Terry, Phil Woods, Rob McConnell, Kai Winding ...(more)
Arrangers: Rob McConnell, Ralph
Burns, Kai Winding, Manny Albam, Slide Hampton, Bob Mintzer, Phil Woods,
Frank Foster, Don Ellis, Tony Scott, Bill Holman, Ernie Wilkins, Don
Sebesky... (more)
About 160 minutes of music
The Big Band of the SWR radio station in Stuttgart celebrated
its 50th Anniversary in 2001 by releasing this 2-CD package, recorded
over five decades under the leadership of Erwin
Lehn.
A great number of German and American jazz musicians worked with this
band. For several years Ack van Rooyen, Rolf Ericson, Bob Burgess, among
others, were regular members.
The albums are superbly played, recorded and packaged,
and are a collector's item. The package can be ordered directly from
the link above and costs €30.
Several gems are to be found here, among them the Kai
Winding and Ack van Rooyen solos on Monobone; Frank Rosolino on Caravan,
and the late, great Bobby Burgess on MacArthur Park. Bob had asked me
to score this as near as dammit to the Woody Herman version, where he
had previously recorded this solo, so I did. You can hear his particular
style of staccato phrasing on this, while his influence over the whole
band can be felt throughout the score.
The production of this superb package,
with its conception and realisation, was carried out by Rudi Reindl
and Karl Farrent, both of whom play trumpet in the present band.
Special thanks to Professor Erwin Lehn.