Big Phat Success at Jazz Bakery

Mondays have traditionally been big-band nights at many jazz clubs. The reasons are obvious: It’s usually an off night in terms of employment for most players; club owners like the idea of having a high-visibility attraction for a traditionally low-attendance evening; and musicians are willing to show up for the pleasure of playing in a large ensemble (not for the big bucks, because, sadly, the payment is minimal).

Mondays haven’t quite become big-band night at the Jazz Bakery yet, but the scheduling at the venue is moving in that direction. This week’s appearance by Gordon Goodwin and his Big Phat Band was the third large ensemble to show up this month (with three more scheduled for November), and the room was packed--a considerable improvement over the typical Monday night turnout.

What the crowd heard was an 18-piece collection of some of the Southland’s finest players, romping through Goodwin’s well-crafted compositions and arrangements with a combination of crisp accuracy and fiery soloing from, among others, trumpeters Dennis Farias and Bob Summers, saxophonists Jeff Driscol and Eric Marienthal and drummer Bernie Dresel. Carmen Carter added a few vocals.

Goodwin is a veteran composer for films and television--including pictures such as “Gone in 60 Seconds” and television shows such as “Now and Again” and “Sisters”--winning three Emmys along the way. The communicative skills required for such writing were amply present in his charts, enhancing his solidly swinging melodic lines and supercharged rhythm passages.

A tune such as “Count Bubba,” for example, had all the appealing qualities of a hard-driving big-band number. But Goodwin enlivened its impact by including a passage in which the band, building from the saxophone section, ripped through a wide-open passage, unaccompanied by rhythm, expanding to a fervently climactic ending.

Goodwin and Big Phat Band’s album “Swingin’ for the Fences” (Silverline) is the best-selling jazz item in the new DVD 5.1 surround-sound format. And it’s not hard to understand their success. Both live and in surround-sound, their music provides potent testimony to the sheer exhilaration of big-band jazz.