GRP All-Star Big Band - All Blues (1995) CD Rip

Tracklist

1. Cookin' at the Continental
2. Stormy Monday
3. All Blues
4. Birk's Works
5. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
6. Senor Blues
7. Blue Miles
8. Mysterioso/Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are
9. Some Other Blues
10. Aunt Hagar's Blues

GRP All-Star Big Band:

Eric Marienthal - alto & soprano saxophones
Nelson Rangell - alto & soprano saxophones, flute
Ernie Watts - tenor & soprano saxophones
Bob Mintzer - tenor & soprano saxophones, bass clarinet
Tom Scott - baritone, soprano & tenor saxophones
Arturo Sandoval - trumpet, flugelhorn
Randy Brecker - trumpet, flugelhorn
Chuck Findley - trumpet, flugelhorn
George Bohanon - trombone
Dave Grusin - piano
Chick Corea - piano
Ramsey Lewis - piano
Russel Ferrante - piano, Hammond B-3 organ
B.B. King - guitar, vocals
John Patitucci - acoustic & electric bass
Dave Weckl - drums

ALL BLUES won a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance.

When one considers the large number of great players who participated in this project (including trumpeters Arturo Sandoval, Randy Brecker and Chuck Findley, trombonist George Bohanon, the reeds of Eric Marienthal, Nelson Rangell, Tom Scott, Ernie Watts and Bob Mintzer, such keyboardists as Dave Grusin, Chick Corea, Ramsey Lewis and Russell Ferrante, bassist John Patitucci, drummer Dave Weckl, and guests B.B. King and tenor great Michael Brecker), the rather predictable results are a disappointment. With the exception of Chick Corea's recent "Blue Miles," this album could have been titled "Warhorses" due to the very familiar material. The arrangements by Michael Abene, Scott, Grusin, Mintzer and Ferrante contain no real surprises (other than some unexpected moments on "Misterioso"), and none of the solos are long enough to really build. There is a certain novelty in hearing some of the crossover players like Rangell, Scott and Lewis playing hard bop tunes such as "Birks Works," "Senor Blues" and "Cookin' at the Continental," but why waste B.B. King on yet another version of "Stormy Monday Blues?"~Scott Yanow