Big Band Jazz

Join WRTI on the 4th of July as the Airmen of Note create musical fireworks! The premier jazz ensemble of the United States Air Force hosts annual radio events that allow listeners from far and wide to experience their brand of Americana, delivered with the help of famous jazz guest artists.

July 8, 2019. When trombonist, vocalist, and bandleader Pete McGuinness was growing up in West Hartford, Connecticut, he wanted to be Duke Ellington. So it’s probably no coincidence that with the release of his third big band album, Along for the Ride, McGuinness shows a musical sensibility that mirrors the Duke’s.

May 20, 2019. The Airmen of Note is the award-winning jazz ensemble of the U.S. Air Force Band. With Global Reach, their fourth new album in as many years, the ‘Note’ truly goes global, featuring arrangements of traditional Irish and Korean folk tunes, along with breezy, beachy sambas, and—just for good measure—a Beatles cover.

October 29, 2018. Even though jazz pianist, composer and bandleader Orrin Evans recently joined the boundary-bending trio The Bad Plus based in NYC, his local projects still remain on the forefront. The Captain Black Big Band has been his baby since 2007, and the new album, Presence, shows that Evans is present.

September 17, 2018. Despite the passing of Count Basie in 1984, the Count Basie Orchestra has remained one of the elite performing organizations in jazz. Now under the direction of Scotty Barnhart, the orchestra, partly comprised of musicians hired by Basie himself, has released All About That Basie to celebrate 80 years of swinging.

This Sunday at 7 pm on WRTI, celebrate the 300th broadcast of Big Band Jazz with Bob Craig. Bob launched Big Band Jazz on October 3rd, 2010, and has been delighting audiences with this rich music ever since.

In 1965, the trumpeter, composer and arranger Thad Jones and the drummer Mel Lewis found themselves with a book of Big Band music originally intended for the Count Basie Orchestra — and nobody to perform it. So they made their own.

WRTI's Bob Craig has his picks of the top big band tunes released in 2015. Here's his list!