Tim Armacost and Craig Bailey April 19 at Iguana NYC

[cultchas]

What: THE BROOKLYN BIG BAND LED BY SAXOPHONISTS TIM ARMACOST AND CRAIG BAILEY

Where: IGUANA CAFÉ

240 West 54th Street

New York, NY 10019-5502, United States

(212) 765-5454

When: Monday April 19th. Shows at 9 and 11.

Saxophonists Tim Armacost and Craig Bailey of the Brooklyn Big Band play their distinctive jazz music from their new album at the Iguana Café in NYC, 240 W. 54th Street (West of Broadway).

The Brooklyn Big Band performs new jazz music primarily written and arranged by band members. Their jazz sounds are marked by an electric mixture of exceptional rhythm section playing, spontaneous creation of compositional elements, and disciplined ensemble work.

Saxophonists/composers/arrangers Craig Bailey and Tim Armacost have been co-leading the Brooklyn Big Band since 2000; Live at Sweet Rhythm is the group's first disc and it's a splendid debut from one of the best kept secrets in town.

Full of thorny charts and impassioned, raucous playing, the record never lags. Though the band seldom departs from the mainstream, it never zigs when it can zag. Much of the fun comes from the space Armacost and Bailey leave in their writing (the sole standard - Ellington's "Take the Coltrane' - for example, is given only the barest framework and is largely improvised every show).

Most everything the band plays, be it screaming blues or barn-burning bop, sounds like a sudden discovery: fresh, vibrant, innovative and - dare we say it - new. The horns are always kicking in a beat or two early or swooping when they're expected to leap or flurrying when you'd think they'd lay out. To single out any track would do an injustice to the others, but it's worth adding this is a band that knows how to design a set; give a listen to this disc and you'll never miss a hometown gig again.

Edited April 16, 2010 by cultchas