SwingDJs

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmbig band

Excellent band and excellent recording, except the bass drum, which goes RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE throughout. It can be fixed though - after adding a high-pass filter with cut-off frequency 100 Hz my apartment stopped shaking.

anton wrote:except the bass drum, which goes RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE throughout.

I think the recording technique used inherently adds a little boom-e-ness to the bass end, but are you sure you just didn't have your sub turned up to high? I re-listened to a few tracks completely flat on studio monitors and it sounds perfect. On my iPod with headphones I got a sense of what you're talking about (nothing out of the ordinary though), but then I turned it's EQ off it was perfect again. Now I'm curious to play it on my home theater setup, which is tuned for movies and admittedly has a little extra bass added for enhanced effect, but it's nice and tight so it should still sound pretty close to Glenn's intent.

I love this CD.

I played three tracks from this on wednesday at the century


too bad travis is never there to hear whats played on wednesdays anymore

I played 5 or 6 over 3 days in San Diego over New Year. A highly effective tool for transforming sitting-downers to become floor-dancers.

I like it.
I can see how it would get lots of people dancing.

But one question...

Am I the only big band lover on this board who thinks it feels a little trad-jazz-ish / 20's-band-ish to be going on and on and on about how big-band-ey the album sounds? (Yeah, I know that numbers-wise, the band is big.)



(And I know that no modern band is going to get the sound of the 3 links I posted in the studio unless they record under-mic'ed with ridiculously expensive old-style mics and probably do even more things that're impractical.

Maybe I need to have a different concept of the category "big band sound" in my head when I talk about modern recordings than I have in my head when I talk about 1st-half-of-the-20th-century recordings.)

re kitkat: what makes it sound trad-ish/20s to you? the styling of the soloists? the feel of the rhythm section? the arrangements? the quality of the recordings?

I can hear why you might say that -- there's a certain quality to the great recordings you linked to that wont be recreated, but that doesn't define the entirety of what can be called "big band", in my opinion.

Without trying to define exactly what category Glenn's band falls into, I feel it's safe to say that the big band sound changed a lot from the 20s thru the 50s/60s, and the sound of Glenn's band falls in the mix somewhere.

still, I'm curious to hear what you were reacting to in the recordings. thanks

I wish I knew, Fredo! All of the things you mentioned sound reasonable, but I don't have a great musical ear, so I don't know.

Anyway, now one other person on this planet has said, "I heard what you're saying you heard," so I'm content--I can sit back and just read the reviews now. =)

This album is amazing.

I was a bit surprised that the album did not make the Best of 2009 on Hey Mr Jesse. You forgot to send them a copy?

Just received it in the mail yesterday. The rhythm section is powerful and solid like a Royal Hudson and it's hard to believe the original tunes weren't penned by Fletcher Henderson and Don Redman. Kudos to Glenn and all the musicians on a fantastic album!

kitkat wrote: Am I the only big band lover on this board who thinks it feels a little trad-jazz-ish / 20's-band-ish to be going on and on and on about how big-band-ey the album sounds? (Yeah, I know that numbers-wise, the band is big.)

I think you're onto something, Kitkat. The liner notes state that the band is "focused solely on the music of the swing era", but they do lean heavily towards the very early swing era (early 30's). Hence (maybe) your associations to the 20's and trad-jazz.

Yeah, definitely early swing era but also definitely swing, not trad. The rhythm section is playing true to the old style swing.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to all for your kind words about the CD.

The trad. vs. swing is always a debate that I hear among dancers, and it's funny because a lot of bands that call themselves trad bands, I really think are swing bands.

Katie, "Dickey's Blues" and "Baby Won't You Please Come Home" are probably the tunes that sound the most "trad" as opposed to tunes like Chasin' the Blues, Rachin' in Rhythm, etc.

Dickey's Blues is definitely written in the late 20's Ellington style, which I consider to be the beginning of swing, but definitely is on the cusp.

In Baby Won't You Please (and in a couple other spots on the record) I used an orchestration technique where I contrast orchestrated ensemble work with polyphonic soloist ensemble playing, (which often reminds people of trad jazz though many combos were playing polyphony well into the late 30'). I learned this orchestrational technique from listening to Jimmie Lunceford's band. Check out the first chorus of his recording of Baby Won't You Please Come Home where they use this technique too.

A great discussion about that though.

For those audiophiles interested in the recording process - we did not close mic the instruments but instead used 2 room mics and 2 area mics in front of the horns, plus a mic near the clarinet to give him some more presence since he's not a really loud player. The whole record was recorded in about 3 hours and 15 min. in protools but was then mixed down through analogue equipment for a warmer sound, and also mastered through analogue equipment.

And now for the reason I actually got on to post:

The album is now available in MP3 format on CD Baby (for those who don't mind MP3s).
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/CrytzersBlueRhythmBand is the link.

The hard copy can still be purchased on our website: bluerhythmband.net

cheers!
Glenn