GORDON GOODWIN´S BIG PHAT BAND — Act Your Age (2008) Two Version | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless & APE (image+.cue), lossless

It isn't easy to keep a big band together, but Gordon Goodwin has come up with various strategies to maintain his Big Phat Band since its founding at the turn of the 21st century. Although the band is a vehicle for his writing and arranging, Goodwin has not been shy about bringing on eye-catching guest stars and trying new things, whether that meant having Johnny Mathis sing a number or Dave Sanborn contribute to a reading of "Play That Funky Music." He has been rewarded with Grammy nominations and stratospheric sales (for this style of music, that is) in the 15,000-20,000 range. Act Your Age, the fourth Big Phat Band album (not counting the group's 2006 soundtrack to Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas) again reveals Goodwin's marketing savvy. Deliberately offered up just before the deadline for the 2008 Grammy Awards, it boasts a bevy of guests including Chick Corea, who recreates his "Senor Mouse"; Patti Austin, singing a cover of Earth, Wind & Fire's "September"; electric bassist Nathan East, taking the lead role on the title tune; Dave Grusin, playing on his "Punta Del Soul"; the album's producer, Lee Ritenour, adding electric guitar to "September" and "Punta Del Soul"; and, um, "Art Tatum." The quotation marks are necessary since the Tatum contribution is virtual, courtesy of an electronic process by which a Tatum performance of "Yesterdays" from 1949 was digitized, then re-performed by a Diskclavier, accompanied by a big band arrangement provided by Goodwin. Traditionalists will cringe, of course, but Goodwin doesn't care about them. He cares about reanimating big-band music. Funnily enough, he does that most consistently on the tracks that don't have any guests or gimmicks, and they actually take up a good part of a long disc, just not, for the most part, in the early sequencing, where the guest stars are found. As the album goes on, Goodwin's charts turn out to be punchy and inventive, and he is abetted by a precise and enthusiastic ensemble. He may have included more tangential elements than big band fans would prefer, but there is some undeniable contemporary big-band music on this album. (On CD copies of Act Your Age, "Floating Home," the album's final track, is available as a download-only track, not on the disc itself.)  William Ruhlmann
Tracklist :
1    Hit The Ground Running 4:54
Composed By – Gordon Goodwin
Featuring, Alto Saxophone – Eric Marienthal
2    Watermelon Man 5:27
Composed By – Herbie Hancock
Featuring, Piano – Gordon Goodwin
3    September 4:29
Composed By – Al McKay, Allee Willis, Maurice White
Featuring, Guitar – Lee Ritenour
Featuring, Vocals – Patti Austin
4    Yesterdays 3:18
Composed By – Jerome Kern, Otto Harbach
Featuring, Piano – Art Tatum
5    Señor Mouse 5:00
Composed By – Chick Corea
Featuring, Piano – Chick Corea
6    Punta Del Soul 5:04
Composed By – Dave Grusin
Featuring, Guitar – Lee Ritenour
Featuring, Piano – Dave Grusin
7    Act Your Age 5:48
Composed By – Gordon Goodwin
Featuring, Alto Saxophone – Eric Marienthal
Featuring, Electric Bass – Nathan East
8    Chance Encounters 7:34
Composed By – Gordon Goodwin
Featuring, Soprano Saxophone – Gordon Goodwin
9    Backrow Politics 8:05
Composed By – Gordon Goodwin
Featuring, Trumpet – Bob Summers, Dan Fornero, Dan Savant, Wayne Bergeron
10    East Coast Envy 5:12
Composed By – Gordon Goodwin
Featuring, Tenor Saxophone – Brian Scanlon
Featuring, Trombone – Andy Martin
11    El Macho Muchacho 6:10
Composed By – Gordon Goodwin
Featuring, Guitar – Andrew Synowiec
Featuring, Tenor Saxophone – Brian Scanlon
12    Gumbo Street 6:32
Composed By – Gordon Goodwin
Featuring, Tenor Saxophone – Gordon Goodwin
Featuring, Trombone – Andy Martin
Credits :
Acoustic Bass, Electric Bass – Rick Shaw
Alto Saxophone, Flute, Piccolo Flute – Sal Lozano
Baritone Saxophone, Bass Clarinet – Jay Mason
Bass Trombone – Craig Ware
Drums – Bernie Dresel
Guitar – Andrew Synowiec (tracks: 1 to 7, 9), Grant Geissman (tracks: 8, 10 to 12)
Percussion – Brad Dutz
Piano, Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Gordon Goodwin
Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Flute – Eric Marienthal
Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute – Brian Scanlon
Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet – Jeff Driskill
Trombone – Alex Iles (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 7 to 12), Andy Martin, Charlie Morillas, Francisco Torres (tracks: 3, 5, 6)
Trumpet – Bob Summers (tracks: 1 to 6, 9), Dan Fornero, Dan Savant, Pete DeSienna (tracks: 7, 8, 10 to 12), Wayne Bergeron