Eyal Vilner Big Band - Swingin' Uptown (2024)

Even though he was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel, composer, saxophonist and educator Eyal Vilner is well-versed in the origins and history of American jazz, especially as they pertain to the Swing Era, big bands and the largely black jazz experience in Harlem and elsewhere. Those interests converge on Swingin' Uptown, on which Vilner's excellent big band swings its way through sixteen impressive charts, several of which were inspired by Harlem's remarkble jazz narrative.
Besides arranging every number, Vilner wrote half a dozen, every one of which would have found a comfortable home in the Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford or Fletcher Henderson libraries. The band opens with the first three—"Chicken an' Dumplings," "Bumpy Tour Bus" and the album's title song—establishing a cozy retro groove—before vocalist Imani Rouselle makes the first of her four appearances on the bluesy "Tell Me Pretty Baby." She returns again on "Is You Is or Is You Ain't (My Baby)," sandwiched between the charming "I Want Coffee" and a well-traveled standard from 1924, "Tea for Two," played much as it may have been when introduced in the musical No, No Nanette.
Vilner's bright and bustling "Lobby Call Blues" leads to another standard, Irving Berlin's limpid "Blue Skies," and a pleasing change of pace, the soulful "Don't You Feel My Leg," leading to a third vocal (and scat) by Rouselle on the bouncy "I Love the Rhythm in a Riff." After Vilner's alto takes center stage on an easygoing reading of "I Don't Want to Be Kissed (By Anyone Else But You)," Rousselle returns on "Swing Brother Swing" before the ensemble closes with Vilner's tasteful "Coffee Bean Stomp Jubilee," rapid-fire "Hellzapoppin'" and pleasurable "Afternoon at Smalls" (enlivened by flutes, trombones and sharp ensemble work), a bonus track from a previous big-band session.
The band is robust and resilient throughout, the soloists never less than agreeable. Vilner is heard most often but shares blowing space with several others including trumpeter Brandon Lee, trombonists Ron Wilkins and Rob Edwards, pianists Jon Thomas and Jordan Piper, tenor Julieta Eugenio and drummer Eran Fink. For those who embrace fond memories of the Swing Era and would welcome its rebirth, a strong and effective dose of adrenalin.