GORDON GOODWIN´S BIG PHAT BAND — Swingin' for the Fences (2000) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Saxophonist Gordon Goodwin (heard on this CD on alto and soprano) has loved big bands since he was a child. He arranged all of the music for his 18-piece big band's release, contributing nine of the ten compositions (all but Bach's "Two Part Invention in D Minor") and getting several notable guest soloists to make appearances. The music is mostly modern mainstream, swinging while utilizing some advanced harmonies. There are a few departures including "Sing Sang Sung" (a number based a bit on "Sing Sing Sing"), the Bach selection, a couple Latin jazz pieces, and the funky "There's the Rub" and "A Few Good Men." Among the main soloists from the orchestra are Goodwin, trombonist Andy Martin, pianist Tom Ranier, and tenorman Dan Higgins. The guests (on two songs apiece) are trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, clarinetist Eddie Daniels, and altoists Eric Marienthal and Brandon Fields. Fans of contemporary big bands will find much to enjoy on this fun set. Scott Yanow
Tracklist :
1    Sing Sang Sung 5:35
Soloist – Arturo Sandoval, Eddie Daniels
2    Count Bubba 7:33
Soloist – Dan Higgins, Gordon Goodwin
3    Samba Del Gringo 6:59
Soloist – Andy Martin, Brandon Fields
4    Bach 2 Part Invention In D Minor 7:51
Composed By – J.S. Bach
Soloist – Eddie Daniels
5    I Remember 5:50
Soloist – Dan Higgins, Gordon Goodwin
6    Swingin' For The Fences 5:09
Soloist – Andy Martin, Eric Marienthal, Tom Ranier
7    Mueva Los Huesos (Shake Your Bones) 4:52
Soloist – Arturo Sandoval, Eric Marienthal
8    Second Chances 5:05
Soloist – Gordon Goodwin
9    There's The Rub 5:46
Soloist – Brandon Fields
10    A Few Good Men 3:54
Soloist – Carl Verheyen, Gordon Goodwin
Credits :
Acoustic Bass – Dave Stone (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 6)
Composed By, Arranged By – Gordon Goodwin (tracks: 1 to 3, 5 to 10)
Drums – Bernie Dresel (tracks: 1, 3 to 5, 8), Gregg Bissonette (tracks: 2, 6, 7, 9, 10)
Electric Bass – John Peña (tracks: 3, 5, 7 to 10)
Guitar – Carl Verheyen (tracks: 10), Grant Geissman (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8), James Harrah (tracks: 3, 5, 7, 9, 10)
Percussion – Bernie Dresel (tracks: 1, 4), Luis Conte
Piano – Gordon Goodwin (tracks: 5, 7, 9, 10), Jim Cox (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 8), Tom Ranier (tracks: 2, 6)
Trombone – Alex Iles, Andy Martin, Bill Reichenbach (tracks: 2, 6, 7, 10), Craig Ware (tracks: 1, 3 to 5, 8), Steve Holtman
Trumpet – Dan Savant, Dennis Farias (tracks: 1, 3 to5, 8), Gary Grant (tracks: 2, 6, 7, 10), Jerry Hey (tracks: 2, 6, 7, 10), Larry Hall, Wayne Bergeron
Woodwind – Bill Liston, Dan Higgins, Gordon Goodwin, Greg Huckins, Sal Lozano

GORDON GOODWIN´S BIG PHAT BAND — XXL (2003) APE (image+.cue), lossless

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
Tracklist :
1    High Maintenance 6:17
Featuring – Andy Martin, Eric Marienthal
2    A Game Of Inches 7:22
Featuring – Michael Brecker
3    Comes Love 5:32
Featuring – Brian McKnight, Take 6
4    Thad Said No 5:45
Featuring – Eddie Daniels
5    Hunting Wabbits 6:21
Featuring – Andy Martin, Gordon Goodwin
6    The Quiet Corner 6:21
Featuring – Gordon Goodwin
7    Horn Of Puente 6:19
Featuring – Wayne Bergeron
8    It's All Right With Me 4:45
Featuring – Eric Marienthal, Take 6
9    The Jazz Police 5:19
Featuring – Brian Scanlon, Carl Verheyen
10    Mozart 40th Symphony In Gm 8:08
Featuring – Eddie Daniels
11    What Sammy Said 7:51
Featuring – Bob Summers, Brian Scanlon
12    Let The Good Times Roll 3:31
Featuring – Johnny Mathis
Credits :
Alto Saxophone – John Yoakum (tracks: 3, 12)
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Flute – Eric Marienthal (tracks: 1, 2, 4 to 11)
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Flute, Flute [Alto] – Sal Lozano
Baritone Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Flute – Jay Mason
Bass Trombone – Craig Ware
Double Bass [Ac Bass], Electric Bass – Richard Shaw
Drums – Bernie Dresel (tracks: 1, 4, 8 to 10), Peter Erskine (tracks: 2, 5 to 7, 11), Ray Brinker (tracks: 3, 12)
Guitar – Carl Verheyen (tracks: 3, 8, 9, 12), Grant Geissman (tracks: 1, 2, 4 to 7, 10, 11)
Producer, Composed By, Arranged By, Piano, Saxophone – Gordon Goodwin
Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet – Brian Scanlon, Jeff Driscoll
Trombone – Alex Iles (tracks: 1, 2, 4 to 11), Andy Martin, Charlie Morillas (tracks: 3, 8, 9, 12), Nick Lane (tracks: 3, 12), Steve Holtman (tracks: 1, 2, 4 to 7, 10, 11)
Trumpet – Bob Summers (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 10, 12), Dan Fornero (tracks: 2, 5 to 7, 11), Dan Savant, Larry Hall (tracks: 8, 9), Pete De Siena (tracks: 3, 12), Stan Martin (tracks: 1, 2, 4 to 7, 10, 11), Wayne Bergeron

GORDON GOODWIN´S BIG PHAT BAND — The Phat Pack (2006) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band proves that large jazz ensembles are still in demand with this mostly rewarding effort. Goodwin, who wrote most of the music and doubles on piano and tenor sax, makes the most of his group's abilities. Highlights include the modern swing chart "Count Bubba's Revenge," the playful "Hunting Wabbits (A Bad Hare Day)" featuring Sal Lanzo on piccolo, and "Ever Braver, Ever Stronger (An American Elegy)," which is a richly textured work suggesting the influence of 20th century composer Aaron Copland. There are also various guests: vocalist Dianne Reeves adds a nice touch to the swinging chart of "Too Close for Comfort," while virtuoso clarinetist Eddie Daniels is featured in Goodwin's demanding "Under the Wire." The vocal group Take 6 add their tight harmonies to a breezy arrangement of "It Was a Very Good Year." The only dud is the ridiculously out-of-place 1970s R&B hit "Play That Funky Music" (by the one-hit-wonder band Wild Cherry), a piece of tripe featuring shrill smooth jazz alto saxophonist David Sanborn, who is also an ill fit with this normally swinging big band. Goodwin does his best to make something of this monotonous piece, but he is done in by its lack of substance; it's hard to believe that he chose either the song or Sanborn for this otherwise outstanding CD. Ken Dryden
Tracklist :
1    Cut 'N Run    6:08
 Gordon Goodwin
2    Too Close For Comfort 3:40
 Larry Holofcener / George David Weiss
Featuring – Dianne Reeves
3    Count Bubba's Revenge    6:36
 Gordon Goodwin
4    Play The Funky Music 6:13
Featuring – David Sanborn
5    The Phat Pack    6:40
 Gordon Goodwin
6    Hunting Wabbits 2 (A Bad Hare Day)    4:47
 Gordon Goodwin
7    La Almeja Pequena (The Little Clam)    7:36
 Gordon Goodwin
8    Get In Line    6:54
 Gordon Goodwin
9    Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes    5:10
Gordon Goodwin
10    Under The Wire 5:31
 Gordon Goodwin
Featuring – Eddie Daniels
11    Whodunnit?    6:29
 Gordon Goodwin
12    It Was A Very Good Year 5:20
Featuring – Take 6
13    Ever Braver, Ever Stronger (An American Elegy)    4:08
 Gordon Goodwin
All Credits :

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

DAVE SIEBELS — Dave Siebels with Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band (2008) APE (image+.cue), lossless

Veteran organist, composer, and arranger Dave Siebels sounds like he is completely comfortable and at home as the guest with pianist Gordon Goodwin's acclaimed Big Phat Band. Contemporary funk, modern big-band charts, and a little bebop form the core of the band, as it plays a mix of standards, pop tunes, and seven originals penned by Siebels, including six arrangements by Goodwin, and two smaller-ensemble cuts. The music is fairly predictable, but well-revered soloists like guitarist Grant Geissman, tenor saxophonist Brian Scanlon, trombonist Andy Martin, alto saxophonist Eric Marienthal, and flutist Sal Lozano pop up and increase the band's creative quotient. Siebels himself prefers eighth notes when he jams or plays behind the big band as on three of his tunes, the sleek funk-to-bop opener "The Coupe," the Brecker Brothers-type skunk funk "Not That There's Anything Wrong with That," and the cool walking "Da Blues," where he plays more unison lines with the horn section. "Sort of Like a Samba" is actually Brazilian-based with a quintet only, while "The Eleventh Hour" is another typical funky number, with Goodwin switching to tenor sax for a solo. There is a credible version of Neal Hefti's classic cool organists' favorite "Girl Talk" (with Geissman) and a rousing, fun take of Lalo Schifrin's boogaloo groove tune "The Cat." Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" is a clever adaptation, especially in its complex introduction, as different key changes are strung together before going into the familiar straight funk tune everybody knows. The big band and small ensembles unfortunately lose momentum during "The Gospel According to Hammond" and "I Love You Even More Again," tunes that it is difficult to express much enthusiasm about. While Siebels is a competent organist, he's in the lower third of favorites. A trio date would be welcome to hear how he can effectively stretch out with a more bare-bones combo, so listeners can assess his true colors. Michael G. Nastos
Tracklist :
1    The Coupe 5:25
Arranged By – Gordon Goodwin
Composed By – Dave Siebels
Performer [Musicians] – The Phat Band
Soloist, Guitar – Grant Geissman
Soloist, Tenor Saxophone – Brian Scanlon
2    Not That There's Anuthing Wrong With That 5:09
Arranged By – Gordon Goodwin
Composed By – Dave Siebels
Performer [Musicians] – The Phat Band
Soloist, Alto Saxophone – Eric Merienthal
3    Da Blues 5:19
Arranged By – Gordon Goodwin
Composed By – Dave Siebels
Performer [Musicians] – The Phat Band
Soloist, Trombone – Andy Martin
4    Girl Talk 5:37
Arranged By – Dave Siebels
Composed By – Neil Hefti
Drums – Dave Spurr
Performer [Musician], Guitar – Grant Geissman
5    I Wish 6:11
Arranged By – Gordon Goodwin
Composed By – Stevie Wonder
Performer [Musicians] – The Phat Band
Soloist, Tenor Saxophone – Gordon Goodwin
6    The Gospel According To Hammond 5:05
Arranged By – Gordon Goodwin
Composed By – Dave Siebels
Performer [Musicians] – The Phat Band
Soloist, Alto Saxophone – Eric Merienthal
7    I Love You Even More Again 4:04
Arranged By – Dave Siebels
Bass – Michael George
Composed By – Dave Siebels
Drums – Dave Spurr
Performer [Musician], Trumpet – Roy Wiegand
8    The Cat 3:54
Arranged By – Dave Siebels
Composed By – Lalo Schifrin
Performer [Musicians] – The Phat Band
Soloist, Flute – Sal Lozano
9    Sort Of Like A Samba 4:42
Bass – Michael George
Composed By, Arranged By – Dave Siebels
Drums – Dave Spurr
Performer [Musician], Tenor Saxophone – Ed Smart
Trumpet – Roy Wiegand
10    The Eleventh Hour 6:18
Arranged By – Gordon Goodwin
Composed By – Dave Siebels
Performer [Musicians] – The Phat Band
Soloist, Tenor Saxophone – Gordon Goodwin
Credits :
Alto Saxophone – Eric Marienthal, Sal Lozano
Bass – Rick Shaw
Bass Trombone – Craig Ware
Conductor – Gordon Goodwin
Contractor – Dan Savant
Drums – Bernie Dresel
Guitar – Grant Geissman
Organ [Hammond B3] – Dave Siebels
Percussion – Brad Dutz
Piano – Gordon Goodwin
Tenor Saxophone – Brian Scanlon, Jeff Driscoll
Trombone – Alex Iles, Andy Martin, Charlie Morillas
Trumpet – Dan Fornero, Dan Savant, Pete De Siena, Wayne Bergeron