What started out as a way to have a high school music teacher give his charges a way to hone chops and blow off steam has become a SoCal institution now celebrating it's 40th year of madly swinging.
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Mazel Tov Kocktail!, the newest recording by the Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine, is a swinging, rollicking collection of new and standard big band numbers performed by a tight-knit group of top-notch musicians.
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Ira B. Liss first formed the Big Band Jazz Machine in 1979 as a vehicle for students in Southern California - especially in the San Diego area – to polish up their skills. Now he produces and conducts his 6th recording, and the sound and the verve just heighten!
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Guest stars on the Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine’s new album include famed local bassist Nathan East
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With Tasty Tunes, Ira B. Liss proves that the big band survives well into the 21st century and, at least under his leadership, is thriving in inspiration and creativity.
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Wow. A fixture in the Southern California scene for 38 years, when this Big Band kicks off with a volcanic "You Don't Know What Love Is," one simply goes along for the equivalent of a Formula One ride with this Big Bad Band with Eric Richards' heated arrangement, a full speed ahead alto sax solo from Christopher Hollyday, and blistering trumpet from Peter Green, before pianist Steve Sibley's reflective piano break.
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