Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine: Unexpected Guests — LA Jazz Scene
LA Jazz Scene by Dee Dee McNeil
RHYTHM: Steve Sibley, piano; Oliver Shirley, acoustic & electric bass; Charlie “Stix” McGhee, drums; Dan Radlauer, guitar; Bruce Carver, percussion. SAXOPHONES: Tyler Richardson & Nicholas Hoo, altos; Josh Smitley, tenor; Greg Armstrong, tenors/clarinet flute; Rob Elinson, baritone sax. TRUMPETS: Doug Meeuwsen, Mark Nicholson, Michael Schmidt, & Jack Houghton. TROMBONES: Gary Bucher, Rob Clark, Carly Ines & Tim Hall. SPECIAL GUESTS: Vince Gill, singer/composer; Tali Rubinstein, recorder player; Daniel Ho, ukulele virtuoso; Leo Manzari, rapper/tap dancer; Nora Germain, violin; Eva Scow, mandolin; Wade Culbreath, marimba; Paul Hanson, bassoonist/ saxophone; Tina Guo, cello; Chris Catellanos, French horn. VOCAL ENSEMBLE: Hâlau Hula Keali’i o Nâlari, Keali’I Ceballos, Kanani Toji, Kaleomakamaeokealoha Knight, Nanea Divinagracia, Ka’ iulani Kimura & Daniel Ho. ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS: Jeff Blanco, Paul Cook, Billy Edwall, Louis Fasman, Tommy Griffith, Joe Luna, Roff Olsen, Bob Payne, Ed Spillane & Mike Zelazo.
Composer/arranger, Dan Radlauer has locked arms with Ira B. Liss and his Big Band Jazz Machine. Together, they offer us an exciting, world-class album of big band bliss. They blast onto the scene with a tune called “Renaissance Woman” that features the brilliance of Tali Rubinstein, a Los Angeles based, female, jazz recorder player. She is absolutely stunning on this instrument, sounding more like a flute than a recorder. Her performance adds depth and excitement to this arrangement. Rubinstein has played her recorder at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and Birdland, to list just a few notable places. Dan Radlauer’s arrangement blows into my listening room like hurricane Katrina. The Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine is powerful!
The next tune is actually penned by country/western singer, songwriter and Grammy-winner, Vince Gill. Gill is a country music icon who has had sixty-five hit records on the Billboard Country Music Charts. Radlauer’s slow swing arrangement is a perfect reinvention of this tune. The band features Gill’s warm tenor singing, “I’m Counting on You.” The big band horns add punchy exclamation marks in all the right places.
The well-known Southern California band invites marimba master, Wade Culbreath, to join them on a tune that Radlauer calls “Knock on Wood.” The marimba addition is like a breath of fresh air. Culbreath has worked on hundreds of film and television soundtracks. He is also the principal timpanist/percussionist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He is an expert on all the mallet instruments.
This Big Band Jazz Machine features a host of special guests including Rocky Dawuni, a singer/songwriter who composed the song they play, “Extraordinary woman.” Dawuni is Ghanaian and spends half his time in Africa and the other half in the USA. His music is a cross-cultural mix of African, Caribbean and American styles. With this song, he crosses into the jazz genre. Another contributor to this project is jazz violinist, Nora Germain who contributes her original song, “Violinspiration.” Germain has released a dozen jazz albums of her own.
Another surprise is the addition of Leo Manzari, who is the only tap-dancing rapper to ever perform with the Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine. “Tapped Out” is the song composed by Radlauer that the rap artist performs. He wrote the rap and contributed a tap dance routine, mic’d and incorporated into their arrangement.
With the addition of so many talented guests, this amazing Big Band Jazz Machine is changing the face of big band jazz. Peppered with a host of all-star, A-list jazz musicians, and under the direction of conductor and producer Ira B. Liss, they offer fresh, new compositions and arrangements by Dan Radlauer. This is a delightful, innovative and entertaining recording of stellar big band excellence.
