Gabriel Evan Orchestra - Gabriel's Swing (2019)

Gabriel's Swing is the debut album from The Gabriel Evan Orchestra, featuring some of the most complex and entertaining arrangements of the pre-bop era. Despite being a New Yorker, Gabriel Evan recorded this album in the West Bank of New Orleans to bring the fun and loving vibe of the birthplace of Jazz, into his recording. While not a sole tribute album, Gabriel's Swing pays homage to the pre-bop pioneers, John Kirby & his Orchestra, by performing 7 of their hippest arrangements, in addition arrangements by Sidney Bechet, Weston Vaughn, and Django Reinhardt. In a time when big bands were ruling the jazz world, John Kirby & his Orchestra were coined "the biggest little band in the land;" GEO tries to maintain that tradition of full arrangements, fast tempos and virtuosic performances that define this often overlooked era of jazz.

From Tchaikovsky to Mancini and Chopin to Lecuona, the Gabriel Evan Orchestra takes a whimsical approach to hot jazz, early calypso, and mid century Exotica. GEO recreates the feeling of when the vastness of the musical world shrank in the early-mid 20th century, allowing collaborations and the sharing of ideas previously unattainable. The ensemble's major influences include John Kirby & his Orchestra, Sidney Bechet, Lecuona Cuban Boys, Lionel Belasco, Duke Ellington, among others.