Big Band

Given the strong influence that Joe Williams, Jimmy Rushing and Billy Eckstine have had on his work, it stands to reason that Kevin Mahogany would provide a big band-oriented album — and on this early 2005 release, the deep-voiced Mahogany reminds us of the great contributions that male vocalists have made to jazz' big band tradition. Big Band doesn't find the Midwestern singer working with one big band exclusively; instead, he teams up with hard-swinging outfits that include Frank Mantooth's orchestra as well as the Kansas City Boulevard Big Band and the Big City Swing Big Band. And the producers vary, ranging from Mantooth to T.S. Monk to Allen Farnham. Nonetheless, Big Band has a feeling of continuity; whether Mahogany is joining forces with Mantooth on "Moonlight in Vermont," Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing" (which receives an Afro-Cuban/salsa-influenced treatment) and Harry "Sweets" Edison's "Centerpiece," or T.S. Monk on father Thelonious Monk's "Ruby My Dear," Mahogany recalls a time when male jazz vocalists made important contributions to the big bands of Count Basie and others. But he does it on his own soulful terms; Williams, Rushing, Eckstine and Johnny Hartman are creative inspirations to Mahogany, but they aren't people he actually tries to emulate. In terms of material, Big Band isn't as risk-taking as some of Mahogany's other albums; most of the standards that he embraces on this project are warhorses that have been recorded countless times over the years. Big Band won't go down in history as Mahogany's most adventurous or unconventional album, but even so, it's a solid, worthwhile effort from the expressive jazz singer.