WDR Big Band & Battista Lena, Luciano Biondini, Javier Girotto - Le Grande Banda - Köln 2008 (MP2)

Here's a special upload, a show by one of the great German radio big bands (NDR is the other one with a high profile, but there are others), collaborating with Italian composer/arranger/guitarist Battista Lena, whom I first heard of when I caught a partial broadcast of his project "I Cosmonauti Russi" (a double CD of that is out on Label Bleu). So when this here showed up on dime, I was all over it, expecting similarly entertaining music - big band jazz with European influences, fun music, that's for sure! I wasn't let down, and I greatly enjoyed everyone's contributions, but most notably Luciano Biondini's fisarmonicha - him being one of my favourite accordionists.

The work is titled "La Grande Banda" - the big orchestra, "banda" being what the traditional brass/harmony bands in Italy are called - for those interested, there's a fine Enja released titled "La Banda", featuring traditional banda music on one disc, and collaborations with the likes of Gianluigi Trovesi, Pino Minafra, Willem Breuker, Michel Godard, Jean-Louis Matinier and Bruno Tommaso on the second disc. "La Grande Banda" is based on another earlier work of Lena's "Banda Sonora" (released also on Label Bleu). For his collaboration with the WDR big band, Lena expanded the suite to fit a large jazz big band, and it now pairs typical jazz playing with mediterranean exuberance and melos.

Music that is easy to love for this humble king, and I hope it will find a bit of a larger audience out there, too! Leave some shouts if you enjoy it, either here or in the general music discussion on top of the blog.

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WDR Big Band - Le Grande Banda (Music by Battista Lena)
Köln (Germany), Funkhaus, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal
May 2, 2008 (MP2)

Luciano Biondini - accordion
Javier Girotto - soprano sax
Battista Lena - composer, guitar

WDR Big Band Köln
Ansgar Striepens - conductor, arranger

John Marshall, Wim Booth?, Andy Haderer, Rob Bruynen, Klaus Osterloh - trumpets
David Horler, Bernd Laukamp, Ludwig Nuss, Mattis Cederberg - trombones
Karolina Strassmayer - alto sax, flute
Heiner Wiberny - alto sax, reeds (flute?)
Olivier Peters - tenor sax, reeds (flute?)
Paul Heller - tenor sax, reeds (flute?)
Jens Neufang - baritone sax, bass clarinet, clarinet
Frank Chastenier - piano
John Goldsby - bass
Hans Dekker - drums

Arranged by Ansgar Striepens
except #2,9,16 by Marco Lackner (sp?)
#11,18 by Gabriel Perez
#14,20,22,24 unknown

Complete Concert

1. Welcome (0:42)
2. Rideau (5:47) [JG,ss;LB,acc]
3. Announcement (1:10)
4. Lift Music No. 9 & No. 10 > Announcement (11:05) [BL,g;JG,ss;FCh,p;LB,acc]
5. Lift Music No. 7 (9:02) [BL,g;LN,tb;JG,ss;LB,acc]
6. Announcement (2:01)
7. Lift Music No. 4 (6:57) [KS,as;JM,t]
8. Announcement (1:31)
9. Cha Cha Cha di Cosmonauti (6:59) [JM,t;JG,ss]
10. Announcement (0:48)
11. Lift Music No. 5 (7:53) [KO,t;JN,cl;BL,tb]
12. Announcement (0:56)
13. Stabat Mom (7:37)
14. unknown (9:18)
15. Announcement (0:33)
16. L'oblo(?) (7:21) [FC,p]
17. Announcement (1:20)
18. Banda 8 (7:04) [LB,acc;JG,ss]
19. Announcement (0:22)
20. Lift Music No. 6 (6:49) [OP,ts;JG,ss]
21. band intros (2:42)
22. Qualcuno a Moscwa sa il motivo(?) (10:12) [PH,ts]
23. Announcement (1:30)
24. unknown (9:38)

TT: 1:59:17

source: DVB-S@320, 48kHz > raw data > ProjextX > mp3DirectCut > mp2 
(lossy recording seeded in its original broadcast codec)