Celebrating Bix!

by Bix Beiderbecke Centennial All Stars

Overview

If one has been subjected to a great deal of contemporary jazz, especially the more challenging sort, it's difficult to remember just how joyous jazz was in the beginning. Even the best players like Louis Armstrong played happy music. The Bix Beiderbecke Centennial All Stars celebrate one such happy stylist, the late, great Bix Beiderbecke. Given the attention Beiderbecke received from Ken Burns' Jazz, it seems ironic that the cornet player considered himself "a failure musically and personally," as the album's liner notes state. Just about everyone, from peers like Hoagy Carmichael to the wonderful musicians that compose the All Stars, however, beg to differ. Celebrating Bix! does just that by creating fresh arrangements for 19 pieces that date back to Beiderbecke's heyday. Most interestingly, perhaps, the cornetist's solos have been scored for a full battery of instruments, giving the contemporary listener a chance to enjoy the breadth of an artist's work in many contexts. The basic arrangements on pieces like "Deep Harlem" and "Riverboat Shuffle" include a lively mixture of pianos, trombones, clarinets, and, of course, cornets. The solo work by cornetist Randy Reinhart, pianist Mark Shane, and alto Jack Stuckey is superb. The liner notes are extensive and include a short introduction, an essay on Beiderbecke, and a breakdown of the song choices. In this way, a listener new to one of the keenest innovators in jazz can absorb his biography and music at once. Celebrating Bix! is a jubilant, overflowing tribute that shows the listener just how much life remains in classic jazz. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford Jr.

Product Details

Release Date:	12/08/2023
Label:	Orchard
UPC:	0657479561824
Rank:	162243

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Bix Beiderbecke Centennial All Stars   Primary Artist
Howard Alden   Guest Artist,Guitar
Vince Giordano   Guest Artist,Bass,Soloist,Sax (Bass)
Dick Hyman   Guest Artist,Piano,Soloist
Randy Sandke   Guest Artist,Cornet,Soloist
Barbara Rosene   Guest Artist,Vocals
Matt Munisteri   Soloist,Guitar
Brian Nalepka   Vocals
Dan Barrett   Cornet,Trombone,Soloist
Jack Stuckey   Soloist,Clarinet,Sax (Alto)
Peter Martinez   Sax,Clarinet
Dan Levinson   Sax,Soloist,Clarinet,Sax (Alto),Musical Director
Joe Ascione   Soloist,Drums
Randy Reinhart   Cornet,Soloist
Jon-Erik Kellso   Cornet,Soloist
Hal Shane   Vocals
Greg Cohen   Bass,Soloist

Technical Credits

Rachel Domber   Associate Producer
Mat Domber   Associate Producer
Matty Malneck   Composer
Randy Sandke   Mixing,Editing,Liner Notes
Leonard Stevens   Composer
Brian Shaw   Mastering
Harry Barris   Composer
Harry Warren   Composer
David Omar White   Producer
Edwin Bransford "Daddy" Edwards   Composer
Chris Schoenberg   Composer
Will Marion Cook   Composer
Dan Levinson   Mixing,Editing,Arranger,Transcription
Benny Meroff   Composer
George Green   Composer
Paul Helmick   Composer
Irving Milfred "Miff" Mole   Composer
Luke Melton   Cover Graphics
Monty Collins   Composer
Alfred Bryan   Composer
Turner Layton   Composer
Paul Evans   Composer
Ted Fio Rito   Composer
Irving Mills   Composer
J. Russel Robinson   Composer
Bing Crosby   Composer
Bix Beiderbecke   Composer
Jack King   Composer
Frank Driggs   Photography
Larry Shields   Composer
Eddie Edwards   Composer
Tony Spargo   Composer
Frank Signorelli   Composer
Walter Donaldson   Composer
Joe Young   Composer
Dick Voynow   Composer
Joseph Meyer   Composer
Walter Michels   Composer
Lindsay McPhail   Composer
Sam M. Lewis   Composer
Sam Coslow   Composer
Peter Ecklund   Score,Arranger
Nick LaRocca   Composer
Mitchell Parish   Composer
Tom Delaney   Composer
Gus Kahn   Composer
Chip Deffaa   Liner Notes
Hal Dyson   Composer
Henry Creamer   Composer
Henry W. Ragas   Composer
Hoagy Carmichael   Composer
Con Conrad   Composer
Lalo Schifrin   Composer
Tony Sbarbaro   Composer
Frederick Tobias   Composer
Donald Heywood   Composer
Peter Karl   Mixing,Editing,Engineer