Music Zoom Review of Tasty Tunes

The Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine, resident for thirty-nine years in California, produced this fifth album. Over the years, the leader, Ira B. Liss, has involved special guests and made this big band a solid and well-blended reality that makes mainstream jazz look at contemporary sounds. So much swing, a little fusion and the electric guitar solos make everything more listenable and in step with the times. Among the highly respected musicians guests, Bob Mintzer, tenor saxophonist who became famous with the Yellowjackets, the flautist Holly Hoffmann, Dean Brown, fusion guitarist who played among other things in the Becker Brothers, and the alto saxophonist Eric Marienthal. Musicians work the best on the arrangements of the leader. It starts with a famous standard, You Do not Know What Love Is, 
performed in quick time, making it become a bop mold. Following, Woody Herman's Early Autumn with host Eric Marienthal on high sax performs an impressive solo. Two standards are with singer Janet Hammer - Nature Boy , which also features Holly Hoffmann's solo flute and Ya Turn Me on Baby. Dave Gruisin's Mountain Dance is another beautiful performance with the compact sound of the big band and the solo on the electric guitar by Alex Ciavarelli and pianist Steve Sibley. The final, Recon, is with Dean Brown that honors his reputation as a fusion guitarist. A great reality, this big band, in step with the times.