Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
The Airmen of Note is the premier jazz ensemble of the United States Air Force. As one of today’s few professional touring bands, it has attracted some of the finest musicians in the country. Twice yearly the Note travels throughout the country spreading its big band sound to communities from coast to coast. Their Jazz Heritage Series began in 1990 and has become an annual tradition that features world-class guest artists performing in concert with the big band in Washington, D.C. “The 2023 Jazz Heritage Series” features trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, saxophonist Melissa Aldana and drummer Ignacio Berroa.
The Flying Horse Big Band is the premier big band of the Jazz Studies program at the University of Central Florida. Under the direction of saxophonist and professor Jeff Rupert, the band has played at music festivals and concert halls regionally and nationally. On their 8th album, “A Message from the Flying Horse Big Band,” the band celebrates the legendary Jazz Messengers, with songs composed by Horace Silver, Cedar Walton, Wayne Shorter and Hank Mobley.
Also this week, the Chicago-based band “Bowmanville” combines aspects of Django Reinhardt’s Quintet of the Hot Club of France with Chicago blues to form their own infectious style on their new self-titled disc; “Zig Zag” is reedman Willie Williams’ most recent offering, featuring bassist Buster Williams, drummer Victor Lewis and pianist Stephen Scott; and Richmond, Virginia-based bassist and composer Michael Hawkins, who has performed with jazz legends like Jimmy Heath, Mulgrew Miller and John Hicks, unveils his new release, “On Bass…”