Jazz Big Band Recommendations?

Tom,
I agree 100% about KS All-stars. I wouldn't worry to mach about the movie though. It was good but the soundtrack was much better.

For those loving Big Band music, you may also want to look at big bands from South of the border. I saw Bueno Vista Social Club here last year at the Tennessee Theater. The name of their big band is called the Afro-Cuban All Stars and they have several CDs out and their singer is TERRIFIC!. All I can say is when I saw them, they had people here ...in Knoxville, TN...literally dancing in the isles. If you know anything about Knoxville, then you know how special that is.

I heard the Afro-Cuban All Stars on the radio recently (NPR, I think), and I agree. They are well worth a listen!

Tom.

heard a piece of this on NPR Jazz last night. Pretty good stuff.

http://www.johnlabarbera.com/newcd.html

If you ever go to New Orleans, there is a not-well-kept-secret that the place to hear the best jazz in town is Preservation Hall. They bring in great sounding no-name bands to maintain the heritage of old fashioned jazz. The room is small and rustic to provide an enjoyable, and intimate experience. Preservation Hall records these presentations and sells the CDs at there website. To give you an idea of their popularity, lines circle around the block on weekends, but only the front of the line gets in because of the small size of the room.

Maybe I missed it, but in all of these great suggestions nobody mentioned the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band or CBBB as often referred by. This was a band several years ahead of their time and many of their recordings have been reissued in CD format. "Now Hear Our Meanin'", "Handle With Care", "Jazz is Universal". Mostly European players who matched their American counterparts.

Also check out the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.