IRA B. LISS BIG BAND JAZZ MACHINE - MAZEL TOV KOCKTAIL!

This big band was founded in 1979 by Ira Liss, he was a baritone saxophonist in his high school band and later played as a sideman with famous jazz artists such as Barney Kessel, Pete Christlieb, Thad Jones and others and he is now the producer, conductor, artistic director of the big band. The band was founded as a training institute for music students but they got better and better and started playing in front of the public. In 1994 the band was a completely professional organization and it was time to record albums and “First Impression” was released, followed by 4 more albums “Everything under the sun” (1999), “Symphomaniacs” (2002), ”It's about time ”(2013) and“ Tasty tunes ”(2017). “Mazel Tov Kocktail” is thus their sixth album, the band has become a household name in Southern California and many greats played with them such as Bob Mintzer, Barbara Morrison and Eric Marienthal to name a few.

The music on this album is quite varied with six arrangers who contributed to the compositions, including three by Dan Radlauer, the band's regular composer. He has composed for television, film and more than a thousand commercials. He wrote and arranged the title track “Mazel Tov Kocktail” with a clear klezmer sound, as is known klezmer music of the Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe, often with the accordion and the clarinet in the lead. And here too these are the defining instruments, Radlauer as a multi-instrumentalist plays the accordion and April Leslie the clarinet. The song's name also became the album's title because klezmer is party music and the fact that the band is celebrating their 40th anniversary brings all of that together. Furthermore Radlauer wrote “Keys tot he City” and “Bass: The final frontier”. Andrew Neu wrote and arranged the opening track “Gimme that”, he is not a regular member of the band but Liss asked him to play the tenor sax in the song which also features trumpeter Mike Vax. George Stone, also not a member of the band, but a well-known composer for big bands, wrote the spirited “West Wings” on which a swinging vibraphone solo can be heard by guest soloist Matt DiBiase. Peter Herbolzheimer, a leading big band jazz arranger in Germany and a favorite of Liss, who passed away in 2010, provided the arrangements for “Springtime” and “I wish you love” (Charles Trenet).

This Big Band is a well-oiled machine that performs its repertoire of old and new songs with a lot of élan, it all sounds fresh from the liver and therefore lasts completely. Besides the aforementioned songs, the album contains some classics from the American songbook “Where or When” by Rodgers & Hart and “You'd better love me while you may” by Martin & Gray. The famous “Love you madly” by Duke Ellington is also present, striking is the presence of “High Wire” by Chick Corea and “Joy Spring” by Clifford Brown, proof that the band does not only bring the well-known repertoire. There are two female singers active on this album, Janet Hammer and Carly Ines, both taking 3 songs, Janet Hammer is clearly the better of the two with a more personal and warmer sound and more technical skill.

The album starts stormy with the swinging “Gimme That” with strong solos by Andrew Neu on tenor sax and Mike Vax on trumpet. The singers are doing their job well, but after the review of the Roseanna Vitro CD they are a bit disappointed in terms of level, but Vitro is in a different class. One of the stronger songs is “Bass: The final frontier”, indeed here it is all about the bass and the electric one played by Nathan East, he is not Stanley Clarke but it sounds great with fantastic runs. “You'd better love me while you may” is also a nice song, all the more so because Janet Hammer does an excellent job here and David Barnard also plays the stars of heaven on trombone. The absolute highlight is the klezmer tinted “Mazel Tov Kocktail” a wonderful song with swinging accordion playing by Radlauer and April Leslie on the clarinet. In this genre there could have been more songs, maybe something for next time? “Springtime” is also a well-thought-out song with cleverly shifting melody lines and a successful el. guitar solo by Melanie Medina. A great album full of clever arrangements and strong solos.

Instrumentation: Tyler Richardson (as, ss), Nicholas Hoo (as), Malcolm Jones (as), Greg Armstrong (ts, flt), David Castel De Oro (ts), Josh Smitley (ts) April Leslie (bar., Klt Randy Aviles (lead tpt), Mark Nicholson (tpt), Jeff Beck (tpt), Jack Houghton (tpt), Gary Butcher (tbn), Carly Ines (tbn), David Barnard (tbn), Tim Hall (tbn) , Steve Sibley (pno), Lance Jeppesen (bs), Charlie “Stix” McGhee (drs), Melanie Medina (gtr), Robert Cartwright (gtr), Noah Ines (latin perc.), Matt DiBiase (vibr.) Janet Hammer (vcl), Carly Ines (vcl) and guests Nathan East (el. Bs), Andrew Neu (ts), Dan Radlauer (acc.) and Mike Vax (tpt) Production and director: Ira B. Liss.