Big Bands: Count Basie Orchestra and the VJO

Hello! This week let's spend some time checking out a couple of large jazz ensembles. Let's start with the big band that really serves as the model for school jazz bands today - the Count Basie Orchestra. Here's a live performance from 1981, on Duke Ellington's "In a Mellow Tone."

Pay attention to the overall dynamics of the band through this performance. There are spots when the band is whisper-quiet, and of course there are spots where the band is playing so strongly you'd think the walls are shaking. I think one of the keys to making your big band sound great is the ability to play super-soft as well as super-strong. Can your band play the quiet stuff just as well as the shout choruses? And dig that saxophone soli!

From the same performance, here's Sweet Georgia Brown - it's the same arrangement by Sammy Nestico that many of you may have played with your own groups. Listen to the horn soli starting at 2:20, right after the tenor solo...can you hear how the horns are really punching the dynamics up as the line goes higher, and putting a little decrescendo on the line as it goes lower? And check out how the band doesn't sound like it's at full volume through here - that "power on demand" is saved for the horn punches behind the little solo breaks, first with unison saxes and then with the Count himself a bit later.

In a big band, it's not always necessary to play at full volume in a shout chorus. The most important thing is to make sure the melody line swings - that it's played cleanly in every part, that everyone in the sections follows the lead players, and that the lead players know enough about jazz phrasing to shape those lines just like the players in Basie's band.

And now let's listen to the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. Named for their weekly venue in New York City, the famous Village Vanguard jazz club, the VJO is arguably the model for many college, university, and pro bands. The VJO's book of charts includes pieces from the greatest big band writers in the world, including Thad Jones, Bob Brookmeyer, Bill Holman, and Jim McNeely to name a few. You need to know your stuff to make your band sound like the VJO!

Here's the band at the Hague Jazz Festival in 2008, performing Herbie Hancock's tune Eye of the Hurricane. Listen to the difference between the two tenor soloists - that's Ivan Renta up first, followed by one of my favorite tenor players, Rich Perry. Renta goes straight into some very driving work, with streams of long phrases; Perry starts off a lot more obliquely, with out-of-time phrases - the rhythm section plays a little more outside at first, in support of the mood he wants to set. The ensemble stuff is strong throughout - you can tell this chart isn't meant to be subtle.

And then there's Mean What You Say, an original tune by Thad Jones, one of the founders of the band back in 1965. Solos are by Michael Weiss (piano), Scott Wendholt (trumpet), and Ralph LaLama (tenor). Check out the out chorus (starting at 9:20) - same emphasis on making the melody line swing as I mentioned before, only the VJO is at full volume here because the chart calls for it.

You can hear more of the VJO on its YouTube channel or website. Check it out!