Full-On!

The Grammy-nominated arranger makes bank working with A-list pop stars (Stevie Wonder, Diana Krall, Michael Bublé), but his passion's his swinging, 18-piece big band. They give Leonard Bernstein's "I Can Cook Too" a hard jump-blues snap, and make Wonder's "Sir Duke" and Hank Williams' "Hey Good Looking" swing with joy, while Tierney Sutton (one of six vocalists) adds resigned luster to the Frank Sinatra chestnut "Only the Lonely." Less polish and more passages like the frantic bass opening "Arturo" (featuring Cuban trumpeter Sandoval) would be welcome, but this remains a crisp, stylish production of a sort rarely heard in 21st-century jazz.