The
combination of Big Bands and American traditional music
is as much a part of our heritage as Motherhood and
Apple Pie. The great bandleaders of the Swing
Era routinely turned to their roots for inspiration. Benny
Goodman serenaded audiences with Sweet Georgia Brown,
couples swayed to Tommy Dorsey’s Deep River,
and Glenn Miller gave us his rendition of Little
Brown Jug.
In Swing
Out America, Clark Murray carries on that tradition
with Swing arrangements of sixteen melodies that
are part of the fabric of Americana. This collection
draws from the patriotic, religious, Broadway, folk
and Western tunes that chronicle America’s history. The
orchestration of these melodies features two distinct
Big Band ensembles—a Hot
Band consisting
of the classic complement of trumpets, trombones
and saxophones and a Cool
Band which
showcases clarinet and trombone sections accompanied
by vibes.
Murray
finds the inspiration for his Swing arrangements in
the popular West Coast Big Band venues leading the
revival of Swing—notably San Francisco’s
Top of the Mark and the Beverly Hilton’s Coconut
Club. This album represents a new direction for
Murray, whose first two critically-acclaimed releases, Coeur
du Soleil and Yosemite Journey, followed
New Age stylings. |
