Author: Mitch Mirkin

Big Band of the Week

Big Band of the Week – The Shades of Blue Orchestra

One of the busier big bands in Baltimore is The Shades of Blue Orchestra, founded in 1976. The smooth, polished, swinging sounds of this ensemble can be heard via a wide array of audio tracks on its website. There are about two dozen longer clips on the band’s Jukebox webpage, each 90 seconds, and each presenting a flowing montage of snippets from the whole tune. | Read more>> Read More
Big Band of the Week

Big Band of the Week – Reisterstown Jazz Ensemble

The Reisterstown Jazz Ensemble bills itself as a “band for all occasions”: weddings, stage concerts, dances, jazz festivals, rock concerts — even funerals. You name it. Band director, trumpeter, and vocalist Scott Cater, who founded the band in 1992 along with lead trumpeter Scott Bowers, his former bandmate at Franklin High School, says he never wanted the band to get pigeonholed into one style of music. | Read more>> Read More
Big Band of the Week

Big Band of the Week – Columbia Jazz Band

Visit the bustling website of the Columbia Jazz Band (thejazzband.com) and you’ll get a feel for the fast-paced, globetrotting lifestyle of this swinging 22-piece ensemble. There are video clips from the band’s international tours and audio tracks from its two CDs, with the music ranging from Swing Era classics such as “Tuxedo Junction” and “Jumpin’ at the Woodside” to Latin-infused bebop standards like “A Night in Tunisia,” bluesy 1960s tunes like “Watermelon Man,” and cool bossa novas such as “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars.” | Read more>> Read More