Big Band, Big Fun

Last week I heard some world-class jazz at the Bijou.
Vocalist Deborah Brown and the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra performed selections from the Great American Songbook featuring Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, Hoagy Carmichael, George Gershwin and others.
It was an unforgettable evening.

Deborah Brown is an internationally renowned singer who has worked with bands and arrangers the world over and appears on numerous CDs. This is her third time performing with the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra. Good things come in threes. KJO, Deborah Brown and some of the nicest arrangements I've ever heard, some being sung live by Brown for the first time, combined for a tasty mix of swinging classics.
Award-winning trombonist Don Hough conducted an expanded KJO that included selected players from the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Hough joked that it was a thrill to be working with “real musicians.” In my book, they’re all cracker-jack; the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra is in its 10th season of wowing audiences with their top-flight big-band sound. I knew right away that it would be a very special show.
Deborah Brown has a voice like very good, very old whiskey: warm, pure and infinitely satisfying.

The sound is a triple threat all its own: the sassy lightness of Natalie Cole, beautifully controlled phrasing reminiscent of a young Sarah Vaughan and the impeccable fluidity of Ella Fitzgerald. The latter was best shown off when Brown doubled the sax section for intricate breaks on “Mood Indigo” and “Our Love is Here to Stay.” She made it look easy.
The rock-solid rhythm section of Rusty Holloway on bass and Keith Brown on drums was impressive, especially on “Just in Time,” which sent us careering to intermission at the break-neck speed of a thoroughbred horse.
It’s a good thing I was sitting alone in a press box – I’m sure my constant toe-tapping would have driven someone crazy if they’d had to sit next to me!
Notable also was the sheer force of the KJO brass section. It rushed forth with the power of a Waimea wave; it was a living, breathing sound of masterly precision. This was better than a recording. There’s nothing like live music to remind you of what it's all about: the genius of talented composers, arrangers, singer and musicians all coming together at the top of their game.
Hear the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra this fall at one of its “Jazz Lunch at the Square Room” shows at noon on the first Wednesday of the month, or catch the popular program “A Swingin’ Christmas” on Tuesday, Dec. 22. Go to www.knoxjazz.org for details.
How's this for a note-worthy trio: the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, your favorite tunes and you!

Playlist:
1. Unforgettable — Nat “King” Cole
2. Easy to Love — Ella Fitzgerald
3. Thank You Girl — The Beatles
4. Sing, Sing, Sing — The Benny Goodman Orchestra
5. Sing a Song — Earth, Wind & Fire
6. Dancing Shoes — Arctic Monkeys
7. Blow Gabriel Blow — Martha Tilton
8. Too Marvelous for Words — Frank Sinatra
9. Get Rhythm — Johnny Cash
10. Three is a Magic Number — Blind Melon