.:.impossible Posted January 6, 2004 Report Share Posted January 6, 2004 What can you guys tell me about Terry Gibbs' music? I guess I always imagined that it wasn't my cup of tea. The name, for whatever reason, has a neutral-to-negative-neutral connotation in my mind. Hoooo-eva, a friend recommended this band to me last night while listening to another, unrelated big band recording. I'm a big fan of vibes (never imagined Terry Gibbs to be my kind of vibes playing) and music that is a little rough around the edges. These are words that my friend used to describe this band. Whattaya know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted January 6, 2004 Report Share Posted January 6, 2004 (edited) Dream Band Volume 5: The Big Cat is probably my favorite big band album, EVER! It comes charging out of the gate and doesn’t let up for a good solid 40 minutes. Their version of "Billie's Bounce" is smooth and snaky, finishing up with an explosive climax at the end! The title track is worth the price of admission alone. Then there's another track which I think aptly describes the whole session: "Do Ya Wanna Jump, Children?" All this, and the joy and fun that these guys are having is clearly audible throughout the set. Plus, it has some of the most hilarious liner notes ever penned, by Jack Tracy. Well worth the money! (Edited to add a much needed comma in one of the song titles.) Edited November 10, 2008 by Big Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted January 6, 2004 Report Share Posted January 6, 2004 I'm a great fan of Terry Gibbs, the vibraphone player. Not sure there is a crowd around here. Don't like everything he does but when he is good and that happens quite often he can be thrilling. But about his big band, I'm a huge fan. That band had fire, great arrangements (Bill Holman, Bob Brookmeyer, Al Cohn, Manny Albams, Lennie Niehaus are some of the names that come to mind) and superb soloists. They produced a lot of remarkable albums. You can pick any of the big bands albums that have appeared on Contemporary. You won't be disappointed. I rank that Terry Gibbs band right next to the Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band (and that one goes very high in my book) and right above the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis orchestra. The Gibbs band swung hard. The arrangements left lot of space for solos. And solo duties were performed by people like Conte Candoli, Frank Rosolino, Joe Maini, Bill Perkins, Richie Kamuca. A typical rhythm section was Lou Levy, Buddy Clark and Mel Lewis. But you could also have Pete Jolly, Max Bennett and the everpresent Mel Lewis in pre Jones-Lewis times. When you hear that band, you can feeel the enthusiasm and the fun these people had performing together. One of the very best of the big bands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Lightning Posted January 6, 2004 Report Share Posted January 6, 2004 What brownie said. I'm a big fan of Gibb's dream band. I own all 6 volums and I like them all, with volumes 1 & 5 are a little bit better than the great others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted January 6, 2004 Report Share Posted January 6, 2004 I'm also in agreement with brownie and the others, although I don't think I'd quite place them above Thad and Mel. The presence of Mel Lewis is always a reason for me to buy any recording, though. I like this band a lot, mostly for the players and great arrangements- at times, however, I do tend to suffer from "vibes overload". Gibbs is a great player, but sometimes there's more flash than substance, IMHO. I do wish there was a little more "stretching" at times- sometimes the other soloists don't get much space (meaning short solos); most of the cuts are well below 5 minutes in length. Who knows, that might have been part of Gibbs' plan for the band- to keep things short and to the point. There's definitely a get-in-and-get-out format to the performances. All these are very minor beefs (beeves?) and really don't detract much from the overall quality. I would recommend picking up ALL the Gibbs big band recordings. The band plays with a lot of spirit and swings hard. Definitely not background music! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clandy44 Posted January 7, 2004 Report Share Posted January 7, 2004 I'm a fan too. Picked up all the Dream Band stuff and then began to buy some of his other work. But then, I'm a West Coast fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.:.impossible Posted January 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2004 Thanks for the good word guys. I don't have much from the West Coast, so this will be a nice introduction I assume. Next time I come across a Terry Gibbs Dream Band disc, its mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIS Posted January 7, 2004 Report Share Posted January 7, 2004 Great stuff! The complete list of Dream Band arrangers (culled from the six CDs) follows: Albam, Manny Brookmeyer, Bob Cohn, Al Flory, Med Hensel, Wes Holman, Bill Johnson, Sy Niehaus, Lennie Paich, Marty Rogers, Shorty At least 15 of the Dream Band charts are still available. I'd be happy to furnish information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted January 7, 2004 Report Share Posted January 7, 2004 (edited) I like the Dream band very much and can recommend it, Mel Lewis is quoted on one of the CDs as saying, this band was not better than his or Jones/Lewis, but as good. Sometimes he is too much on the exuberant virtuosic side, especially in the small group recordings I've heard, e.g. those with Buddy de Franco, which didn't reach me. One that I really love is his Latin Jazz album The Latin Connection on Contemporary, one of the best vibes records in that style with great sidemen. Edited January 7, 2004 by mikeweil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted November 19, 2005 Report Share Posted November 19, 2005 I like the Dream band very much and can recommend it, Mel Lewis is quoted on one of the CDs as saying, this band was not better than his or Jones/Lewis, but as good. Sometimes he is too much on the exuberant virtuosic side, especially in the small group recordings I've heard, e.g. those with Buddy de Franco, which didn't reach me. One that I really love is his Latin Jazz album The Latin Connection on Contemporary, one of the best vibes records in that style with great sidemen. ← oh yeah!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 1960 Posted November 9, 2008 Report Share Posted November 9, 2008 Great to come across this thread. I hope folks here don't mind me reviving it? A fellow board member recommended me to check out Terry's big band performances. Especially since I've been getting into the West Coast thing in a major way as of late. Had the opportunity to sample some of the tracks over at AMG and already plan to purchase some of his Dream Band releases in the near future. Some fantastic lineups on these dates! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stereojack Posted November 9, 2008 Report Share Posted November 9, 2008 These are fantastic records! The first three were first issued in the 1980's. Terry had brought Wally Heider out to record the band in 1959, but none of the material was released at the time. The first three LP's were so well received that Fantasy licensed two more albums from Universal (originally issued on Mercury & Verve) and released them as volumes 4 & 5, although these are from two years later and feature a slightly different lineup. Eventually they were able to squeeze out a sixth volume from the 1959 tapes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.:.impossible Posted November 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2008 Damn. I still haven't heard any of this material! Thanks for reviving this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 1960 Posted November 9, 2008 Report Share Posted November 9, 2008 Damn. I still haven't heard any of this material! Thanks for reviving this thread. Glad to help out! Out of curiousity since I've seen this in other threads, if one were to rank the 6 Volumes of the Dream Band material, how would YOU rank them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted November 9, 2008 Report Share Posted November 9, 2008 the best Joe Maini on record is on those band recordings - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukeCity Posted November 9, 2008 Report Share Posted November 9, 2008 Then there's another track which I think aptly describes the whole session: "Do Ya Wanna Jump Children?" I can't help but think that a well placed comma toward the end of that title would make it a lot less...uh...creepy/felonious. That said, thanks for reviving this thread. I've heard bits and pieces of the TGDB, but have to admit it's a hole in my collection. Time to remedy that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flat5 Posted November 9, 2008 Report Share Posted November 9, 2008 I have it all and it's all worth having. A great band. Even though there are people coming and going it still sounds like a band. All these guys can play. I'm esp. happy that one of my teachers, Don Raffel is on some cuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheldonm Posted November 9, 2008 Report Share Posted November 9, 2008 Love Terry and the band. I saw their last performance (according to Terry) of the Dream Band in LA last year....fantastic! Mark~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted November 9, 2008 Report Share Posted November 9, 2008 Out of curiousity since I've seen this in other threads, if one were to rank the 6 Volumes of the Dream Band material, how would YOU rank them? Vol 6 is for people who already have the other five. (It's a much later issue of bits and pieces - all very good, of course.) Hard to differentiate between the first five - they're all superb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Christensen Posted November 9, 2008 Report Share Posted November 9, 2008 Hi Guys I like also like The Dream Band and have vol. 3-6, but what are the titles for vol. 1-2, hard to find(impossible) in little Denmark, so must search on the net, even if I have found a little netstore (Imusic) here in Denmark that from which I have got stuff that I have searched for years, but no TG vol. 1-2. Vic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Then there's another track which I think aptly describes the whole session: "Do Ya Wanna Jump Children?" I can't help but think that a well placed comma toward the end of that title would make it a lot less...uh...creepy/felonious. My nomination for post of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIS Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 (edited) Vol. 1 goes by the title Dream Band. Vol. 2 is titled Sundown Sessions. http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_adv...lbum-Submit.y=9 Edited November 10, 2008 by DIS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Then there's another track which I think aptly describes the whole session: "Do Ya Wanna Jump Children?" I can't help but think that a well placed comma toward the end of that title would make it a lot less...uh...creepy/felonious. My nomination for post of the year. Yikes! I think I'll go back and change that, if y'all don't mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Sometimes he is too much on the exuberant virtuosic side, especially in the small group recordings I've heard, e.g. those with Buddy de Franco, which didn't reach me. One that I really love is his Latin Jazz album The Latin Connection on Contemporary, one of the best vibes records in that style with great sidemen. Agree with all of the above. Glad I'm not the only one for whom those Gibbs/DeFranco records does nothing. Now Latin Connection.... that's a whole 'nuther WORLD of pleasure there! Was so tickled to find it on vinyl a few months back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 Sometimes he is too much on the exuberant virtuosic side, especially in the small group recordings I've heard ... Read his autobiography "Good Vibes" and you will easily see where that exuberance comes from! (BTW, isn't there a story around that on crosscountry one-nighter tours, when Shorty Rogers wanted to call home he had Terry Gibbs make the calls because Terry would be able to get everything across that Shorty would have wanted to say but in about one tenth of the time it would have taken Shorty? Saved quite a bundle on those long-distance calls! ) As for the Dream Band, I have the two commercially released albums back then plus the Vol.1 and 2 LPs of the Wally Heider material first released in the 80s. They were comparatively expensive when I bought them secondhand in the 90s but I will definitely have to get the other volumes too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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