Search - Buddy Bregman :: Swinging Kicks

Buddy Bregman Big Band

Bomojaz | South Central PA, USA | 05/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
The music on this album was originally composed by Buddy Bregman for a movie that came out in 1956 called THE WILD PARTY, a grade Z melodrama consisting of stereotypically drug-addicted and drunken jazz musicians hanging out and playing in clubs. It's worse than bad, but the music, reworked slightly here, is pretty good. Some of the tunes are episodic and not just background music in the flick - THE FLIGHT is obviously meant for a chase sequence and LOST KEYS has an eerie, mysterious quality to it. Ben Webster's presence is a big plus: he's especially good on KICKS IN LOVE, a pretty ballad on which he plays a duet with pianist Paul Smith. On WILD PARTY, a Basie-like tune, Webster comes in near the end blowing with an assurance that immediately comes to dominate the performance. Stan Getz is in the sax section, but I only hear him once taking a half-chorus solo on HONEY CHILE. KICKS SWINGS is a handsome up-tempo tune with nice Herb Geller (I think) on alto, and MELODY LANE is a swinging a-a-a blues with good Al Hendrickson on guitar. Both TERROR RIDE and END OF PARTY are out-of-tempo compositions that are fairly impressionistic; Maynard Ferguson concludes the latter tune up in the stratosphere on his trumpet. Bregman said that the music he wrote here "is as good jazz as I can write." He's got nothing to be ashamed of, and the personnel he assembled are absolutely top-notch. Modern big band music lovers should like this one a lot."

Still swings after all these years

Evan Wennerberg | Plano, TX USA | 01/01/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For an album recorded nearly 1/2 a century ago (December 1956), Swinging Kicks doesn't sound outdated. The sound quality, while not up to today's digital perfection, is still quite listenable. The playing is awesome (lotsa power!), but what do you expect from guys like Maynard, Bud Shank, Ben Webster, etc. According to the liner notes, the tunes come from a film Buddy scored called The Wild Party (unfamiliar to me). Interestingly, some charts have 2 pianos (Andre Previn and Paul Smith). Originally produced by Norman Granz, 40 minutes. By the way, Buddy has a web site up with some interesting remembrances of his Songbook recordings with Ella - check it out."