Steve Gadd/Eddie Gomez/Ronnie Cuber/The WDR Big Band: Center Stage

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Eddie Gomez
Steve Gadd
Karolina Strassmayer (as)
Andy Hunter (tb)
Bobby Sparks II (ky)
Ludwig Nuss (tb)
Paul Heller (ts)
Simon Oslender (org)
Ronnie Cuber (bs)
Bruno Muller (g)

Label:

Leopard

October/2022

Media Format:

CD

Catalogue Number:

WDR D77107

RecordDate:

Rec. 30 January–3 February 2022

As big band leader and rising star Olivia Murphy has lamented, the UK lacks standing bands like the Danish Radio Big Band, or as here, The WDR Big Band. What a treat it would be for the likes of Gadd or Gomez to record with a British radio band, under the baton of someone like Murphy or Iles.

This set is no game changer: it was never meant to be, but the presence of jazz royalty like the aforementioned and Ronnie Cuber's bluff baritone make this an enjoyable, bluesy, post bop run out with a funk edge as per the opening Wonder-tune ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’. And of course the WDR aren’t only a passive platform for the imported ‘talent’: under Michael Abene's baton Bruno Muller gets to do his BB King thang on the good time shuffle of ‘Watching the River Flow’, and although Gomez goes for the limelight on ‘Che Ore So’ it's Ludwig Nuss's sweet trombone that steals the show. Gadd himself plays distinctly within himself but evidently enjoys the session.

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