The Taylor / Fidyk Big Band

Live At Blues Alley

OA2 22027

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...an excellent example of imaginative straightahead big-band music.
David Franklin

For their 2nd release, the swinging big band co-led by former Stan Kenton arranger Mark Taylor and drummer Steve Fidyk, recorded sets from a run at Washington DC's Blues Alley. With Fidyk's tight ensemble made up of DC's finest and the outstanding writing and arranging of Taylor, this recording is a do-not-miss for lovers of the modern big band.


Track Listing:

1 BLUES ALLEY INTRO :07
2 FULL COUNT 6:32
3 MAIDEN VOYAGE 5:23
4 BRADLEY'S BOP HOUSE 5:31
5 MY ONE AND ONLY LOVE 4:58
6 WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME 10:01
7 WHAT'LL I DO 5:27
8 ANTHROPOLOGY 5:29
9 BRUSH TAPS 4:10
10 MY CHERIE AMOUR 4:43
11 THE GORILLAMAN BLUES 7:06

Performers:

The Taylor / Fidyk Big Band

Antonio Orta - SAX
Bill Linney - SAX
Joseph Henson - SAX
Tedd Baker - SAX
Scott Silbert - SAX

Liesl Whitaker - TRUMPET
Brian MacDonald - TRUMPET
Craig Fraedrich - TRUMPET
Graham Breedlove - TRUMPET

Matt Neiss - TROMBONE
Jim McFalls - TROMBONE
Jay Gibble - TROMBONE
Jeff Cortazzo - TROMBONE bass

RHYTHM:
Tony Nalker - piano
Jim Roberts - bass
Steve Fidyk - drums

Production Info:

Produced by Bob Dawson, Steve Fidyk & Mark Taylor
Recorded live [with no overdubs] November 2, 2005 at Blues Alley, Washington, D.C.
Engineered by Bob Dawson utilizing the remote facilities of
Big Mo Recording Services, College Park, Maryland
Assistant engineers: Chris Weal and Andrew Doucette
Mixed and mastered by Bob Dawson at Bias Recording, Springfield, Virginia
Cover photograph by Frank Schoettke
Band & Blues Alley photography by Chris Kaplan
Layout & design by John Bishop
Liner notes by Steve Jones


Reviews of Live At Blues Alley

All About Jazz (Jack Bowers)
Here's a second impressive album by the outstanding Taylor/Fidyk Big Band, in every respect a worthy successor to its superlative studio date, A Perfect Match, from three years ago. The same basic ingredients -- exhilarating charts by co-leader Mark Taylor, inspired blowing by the ensemble -- are amplified this time around by the adrenaline rush in ...

EJazzNews (Edward Blanco)
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the world famous Blues Alley jazz club in Washington, DC, The Taylor/Fidyk Big Band proceeded to blow the house down in one swinging performance captured on tape for their second recording and follow up to their 2002 debut, "A Perfect Match." Composer/arranger Mark Taylor and drummer Steve Fidyk anchor an eig ...

Percussive Notes (Terry O'Mahoney)
The Taylor/Fidyk Big Band, co-led by drummer Steve Fidyk and arranger Mark Taylor, delivers 11 tunes in the style of the late Woody Herman and Thad Jones big bands. Fidyk, drummer for the US Army Blues band, and Taylor, a prolific jazz arranger and composer, have assembled a crack team of players and a great mix of tunes for their sophomore recordi ...

The Davis Enterprise (Ric Bang)
You probably aren't familiar with either Mark Taylor or Steve, Fidyk, but you'll want to be after listening to this wonderful release. Taylor is a composer/ arranger who got his start doing charts for the Stan Kenton orchestra; Fidyk is a percussionist who has played in many of the great jazz groups and in back-up bands for innumerable vocal a ...

Jazz Times (David Franklin)
Eleven out of the 16 musicians on this live recording by the Taylor/Fidyk Big Band are members of the U.S. Army Blues, including co-leader and drummer Steve Fidyk. The Blues is an outstanding group in its own right, and the added presence of local D.C.-area stalwarts like tenorist Tedd Baker just reinforces the Taylor/Fidyk band's high quality. Pa ...

All Music Guide (Ken Dryden)
The Taylor/Fidyk Big Band's second CD, taken from a performance at Blues Alley, captures the band on a peak evening, fueled by Mark Taylor's potent arrangements and instrumentalists who can build upon his charts without needless showboating. Taylor's originals include "Full Count" (which is a modern update on the old-fashioned tenor battle), the co ...

Cadence, Oct-Dec 2007 (Jack Bowers)
The second album by the superb Mark Taylor / Steve Fidyk Big Band was taped November 2, '06, at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C., and it lays bare a sizable chunk of the band's remarkable power and finesse. Much of the muscle is provided by drummer Fidyk, working in concert with the other sections, the finesse by composer/arranger Taylor who wrote t ...









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