For those unaware, the Dave Slonaker Big Band, coming off it’s 2013 Grammy nomination for Best Large Jazz Ensemble, returns with a dazzling collection of new music celebrating the tradition, but also pushing the possibilities of big band jazz.

Featuring an all-star cast of West Coast jazz and studio legends, including Bob Sheppard, Larry Koonse, Peter Erskine, Wayne Bergeron, and so many more, Convergency (Origin Records) brings together the lives, stories and extraordinary talents of these great musicians, with the music of veteran Los Angeles composer/arranger Dave Slonaker, to create what will certainly be another touchstone recording for fans of the large jazz ensemble tradition.

1. Convergency
2. Uncommonly Ground
3. Duelity
4. A Gathering Circle
5. A Curve in the Road
6. Inner Voices
7. Sometimes a Notion
8. Vanishing Point
9. And Now the News
10. I Had the Craziest Dream

This beautifully crafted, wholesome and heartfelt album opens on the infectious joy of the titular Convergency and the quieter, yet no less melodic Uncommonly Ground and they are followed by the gently fervent Duelity, the laid back A Gathering Circle and then comes the effervescent A Curve in the Road.

Up next is one of my own personal favorites, the almost Parisian-esque rhythms within the dulcet Inner Voices and that is itself backed by the soft dance floor swirl of Sometimes a Notion, the, at times, Eastern-flavored Vanishing Point, the album rounding out on the foot-tapping ear worm And Now the News, coming to a close on the intensely impassioned I Had the Craziest Dream.

Official Website

Dave Slonaker Big Band @ Facebook

Dave Slonaker Big Band @ YouTube