Search - Dave Siebels;Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band :: Dave Siebels with: Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band

Peter H. from WOODSTOWN, NJ
Reviewed on 3/30/2010...

Awesome arrangements, monster personnel, as one might expect from listening to Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band CDs. Great organ playing; man can that guy improvise! What's not to like?

Best combination!

Bernie Music | Maplewood, MN, USA | 06/16/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you love the B3 Hammond and the best Big Band on the planet right now, you must get this CD. I do love the Big Phat Band and the sound of a well played Hammond B3. This is a Merger from heaven!

Not a bad track on the recording. Great original compositions by Dave Siebels and others with amazing arrangements by Gordon Goodwin. The Big Phat Band just can't fail to play whatever is put in front of them.

When I first heard "I Wish" on a local radio station I knew before the end of the song that it had to be from this CD and I couldn't wait for my order to arrive. This is perfection."

The Phat Band with a B3: an ear-opener

M. R. Traska | Chicago, IL | 09/02/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm really not a fan of the Hammond B3 organ in jazz: more than two tracks in a row usually makes me wish the keyboardist had played a Yamaha Clavinova instead and had used a few different keyboard voices, just to prevent everything sounding the same. However, Dave Siebels with Goodwin's group made me sit up and take notice. Now, I'm not an uncritical listener when it comes to big bands; there are enough so-so arrangers and contemporary bands out there to bore me more than occasionally. And I measure all big bands against Basie for swing and Duke at his most creative. That said, Goodwin and the Big Phat Band rarely disappoint -- they're tight, polished, highly inventive, often witty, massively swinging, and infectiously fun. While this album doesn't *quite* meet the very high standard of XXL, Act Your Age, Swingin For The Fences, or The Phat Pack, it does deliver and surprise often, and I found myself not objecting so much to the B3, with which Siebels acquits himself nicely. That's saying a lot, although by the sixth or seventh track I really did wish for a different keyboard voice; and that plus one or two slightly underwhelming arrangements are mostly why I gave this four stars instead of five. Admittedly, that's partly my bias against the B3 operating; but it's also so hard even for Goodwin's group to maintain the extraordinarily high level of quality in the tunes they select and arrangements they use that I shouldn't be surprised when they show a hint of fallibility now and them. But they're STILL the best big band alive and playing, hands down. No contest! So, bottom line: get this album if you like the B3, and at least give it a listen if you don't (you might be pleasantly surprised). As for me, I'll hang on to this, but if their next release skips the organ, I'll be a lot happier ..."