XXL was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. "Hunting Wabbits" was nominated for Best Instrumental Composition. "Comes Love" was nominated for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists.
Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band is a modern big band which successfully blends elements of jazz and rock. Goodwin, who serves as keyboardist, composer, arranger and conductor, has created music that proves to be consistently catchy to the listener and challenging to his musicians. The leader obviously loves a good laugh. The playful staccato brass and reeds are the centerpiece of "Hunting Wabbits" before it transforms into a brisk bluesy vehicle. "Horn of Plenty," his tribute to the late Latin jazz great Tito Puente, features trumpeter Wayne Bergeron, and "The Jazz Police" is a rockish but amusing slap at closed-minded critics and radio hosts. He also makes good use of special guests. The vocal group Take 6 is featured on swinging charts of the standards "Comes Love" and "It's All Right With Me." Clarinetist Eddie Daniels is showcased in the snappy "Thad Said No" and a delicious rearrangement of the well-known theme from Mozart's 40th Symphony. Singer Johnny Mathis, hardly a jazz singer, nonetheless has fun with R&B oldie "Let the Good Times Roll." Rarely are big bands like Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band so able to combine such a diversity of influences into such a tantalizing mix. ~ Ken Dryden
Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band includes: Gordon Goodwin (saxophone, piano); Sal Lozano (soprano & alto saxophones, flute, alto flute); Brian Scanlon (tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet); Eric Marienthal (soprano & alto saxophones, flute); John Yoakam (alto saxophone); Luis Conte (percussion); Peter Erskine.
Recorded at Capitol Records and Conway Studios, Hollywood, California.
Additional personnel: Take 6, Brian McKnight, Johnny Mathis, Michael Brecker.
Hip, Modern, Hollywood Big Band The writing on this cd by Gordon Goodwin is absolutely out of this world. The band swings mightily in the Buddy Rich, Bob Florence tradition and why not with such luminaries as Michael Brecker(ts), Peter Erskine(ds), Eric Marienthal and Sal Lozano(as & ss), etc.The trumpets led by Wayne Bergeron will gladly tear apart your speakers and you think you've heard it all until you've heard "Hunting Wabbits". It's a Bach invention for brass until Peter Erskine and the timps send Andy Martin(tb)into one of the most swinging interludes ever laid down in a recording studio.
Hang on to your hat. This is no under-rehearsed, flat percussion, weak sister of a band. This is the the real thing and for an additional treat how about Johhny Mathis singing the blues?
If you don't buy this one, I'm going to tell your mother. Submitted by Bill D., bostonium (West Roxbury, MA) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo 4 of 5 found this helpful.
Tops! Gordon Goodwin is one of the very best composer/arrangers in jazz. The standard of the performance verges on the miraculous! Submitted by davmar00 (Queensland,Australia) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo 1 of 2 found this helpful.
There's a lot of great music on this CD Following in the footsteps of the last album, "Swingin' for the Fences", XXL does not disappoint. The addition of Eddie Daniels and the vocal group on a number of selections gives the album variety, all at a very high level of innovateive writing and performance. You will not get bored listening to this one, over and over again. I hear something new each time. Great fun! Submitted by jwyse (Vancouver, BC, Canada) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo 1 of 2 found this helpful.
Another Triumph For Gordon Goodwin What a wonderful follow up to "Swingin'
For The Fences". Unlike the first awesome CD this tremendous has vocals interspersed making for a audio animal unlike any other Big Band offering on the market. I've always thought that Take 6 was the quintessential acappella group. Paired with the Phat Band they become a mesmerizing combination. Both these albums are a must for serious Big Band afficiandos. If you've never cared for Johnny Mathis, here he puts himself in a class with Frank Sinatra or Harry Connick, Jr. Submitted by robinputnam (Lake Villa, IL, USA) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo 1 of 2 found this helpful.
This is Great! This band is definitely not Stan Kenton, but if you are looking for something that is a bit different in a band with good musicians this may just be for you. There is good clarinet work - which you hardly ever hear any more. Some of the tracks have the great drummer Peter Erskine at his usual best. You sure can't go wrong with this album. Submitted by Ross (Houston) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo 1 of 2 found this helpful. This review is for a different format.
Hip, Modern, Hollywood Big Band
This is Great!
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