Jazz- Modern big band

Gatemouth Brown, Big Band Texas style. Foot taping roadhouse style.

Maria Scneider is probably the newest and best on the scene. How about Claus Ogerman

This is great. Some of the suggestions make me go, duh, what’s the matter with me—I knew that. But I’ve lost touch, and the ideas don’t come as fluidly as they used to. ….. I didn’t know Jones & Lewis are gone – see what I mean. Mingus Big Band – knew of Sue Mingus’ project but have not taken the time to plug in – must rectify that ASAP. ….. sdcampbell, is that David Murray with octet plus other pieces? I like(d) Carla Bley a lot, back in the day when I was more current; that’s a good tip. I have some Sun Ra and saw his Arkestra a couple times – space is still the place. ….. People always come up with unexpected angles! I like Latin stuff – I should check out Hot House. (Triggered a fond memory of some Dizzy Gillespie with Afro-Cuban bands.) Kid Creole & the Coconut?--makes me chuckle. Cornfed, I agree – they were so cool. It's a good practice to sing “I’m a Wonderful Thing, Baby” to your wife now and then. Can this Ed Palermo make Zappa swing? ... I’ve taken note of everyone’s suggestions. Thank you all very much.

Seems like you folks have a pretty good handle on the US big band scene (Mingus BB, Maria Scneider, etal.) so I'd like to suggest something from our European friends. From Holland there's Pierre Dorge and New Jungle Orchestra - a wonderful group that's been together since the mid 1980's. From Vienna there's the Vienna Art Orchestra, another long lived ensemble. And from England there's Brotherhood of Breath. Germany brings us Klaus Konig and Italy has The Italian Insatible Orchestra. Plus there are quite a few more, if you're interested just drop me an email.

Jayboard: The David Murray recordings from the '80's on Black Saint / Soul Note featured both his octet and his big band. If you are a relatively experienced jazz listener with a sense of adventure, you should find the Murray recordings a lot of fun. One of the posts above mentioned some European bands, and I thought I'd add to the list: check out the Willem Breuker Collectif - fun, zany stuff. Another band that I had some fun with is The Microseptic Septet, which is sort of an American version of the Brueker Collectif.