Big Phat Band jumps any generation gap

Anyone who thinks big jazz bands have little appeal for younger listeners should have been at the Jazz Bakery on Saturday night when Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band performed before a packed house. An obvious majority of the enthusiastic audience consisted of high-school-age listeners -- music students attending in large groups from local schools.

Most were there because of Goodwin’s continuing involvement with music education. Interestingly, the second show was equally crowded, but with an older audience.

The cross-generational range of listeners was testimony to the work Goodwin has done affirming his belief in the continuing appeal of the big jazz band genre, work that has resulted in three Grammy nominations for the group’s latest recording, “Big Phat Band XXL.”

At the start of the set, Goodwin noted, “You can get a bunch of guys to play together, but that’s not the same as building a band.” He was right. Although the Big Phat Band includes some of the Southland’s busiest studio players, it performed with the cohesive interaction one associates with players who work together every night.

At the heart of it all, Goodwin’s pieces -- ranging from a retitled holiday song, “Yo Tannenbaum” (with solid trombone work from Andy Martin), to themes from Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 to the grooving “Bubba’s Revenge” and “Horn of Puente” (a showcase for trumpeter Wayne Bergeron) -- were chockfull of high-spirited invention, enhanced by the band’s first-rate line of soloists.

In the hands of Goodwin and his Big Phat Band team, the large jazz ensemble is alive and well and engaging a new generation of listeners.