The Steve Spiegl Big Band - 'Perspectives' (1982)

The Steve Spiegl Big Band - 'Perspectives' (1982)

1) Hot

2) The Sphynx's Lair

3) Mirage

4) Bacchanalia

5) Spanish Steps

6) Parfait

7) Willie

8) Together Again

9) A Day in the Life

10) The Late Great Planet Earth

This is a relatively old big band jazz album that sounds like Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band could have recorded it. Like the Big Phat Band, the Steve Spiegl Big Band is from California and they perform awesome swing and modern jazz music. Sorry if I compare the two bands too much, I'm not too familiar with modern big bands.

But I am familiar with this album. I first heard "A Day in the Life", which (fortunately or unfortunately) is not a Beatles cover. Rather, it's a really intricate piece that shows off all sections, from the trombone intro to the saxophone/flute riff that comes in later. The rhythm section is extremely tight, and even though that's expected from a studio recording, the groove is still really great.

After hearing just that one song, I had to hear the rest of the album. And after hearing it, it's a really great album and I was surprised that almost 30 years had gone by and there is such little recognition of this band. So I took the liberty of putting the entire album on YouTube. Check out "A Day in the Life" if you wanna be impressed!

Basically, this big band is not big enough in my opinion. But I'm not exaggerating how great the album is. While there are (relatively) a lot of ballads on it, there are also swing songs, songs with a Latin feel, and a cool sound in all of the songs. So listen to this album, it's a hidden gem of modern big band jazz music.