Nextbop

The Next Generation of Jazz

  • Home
  • Blog
    • Newest Posts
    • Streams & Videos
    • Reviews
    • Interviews
  • New Releases
  • Best Of Lists
    • Best of 2019
    • Best of 2018
    • Best of 2017
    • Best of 2016
    • Best of 2015
    • Best of 2014
    • Best of 2013
    • Best of 2012
    • Best of 2011
    • Best of 2010
  • Advertising Rates
  • About
  • Contact Us
Home / Blog / Reviews / Beats & Pieces Big Band – ‘All In’

Beats & Pieces Big Band – ‘All In’

August 11, 2015 By Anthony Dean-Harris

ShareTweetSubscribe

Subscribe to our mailing list and receive our most read content directly to your inbox every month!*

* indicates required
*By subscribing, you agree to receive our monthly newsletter as well as sporadic promotional emails. Feel free to unsubscribe at any time!

Beats & Pieces Big Band is immediately gripping. Band director Ben Cottrell has written songs with soul and bounce to them that this group performs with an infectious energy, which is frankly a bit surprising for a bunch of pale dudes from Manchester, UK. However, one can get drawn in quickly to Finlay Panter’s drumming, or the siren of Anton Hunter’s guitar, or in the perfect touch of Patrick Hurley’s work on keys. There’s so much that works so well in Beats & Pieces Big Band’s latest album, All In.

The horns here are a real delight. One doesn’t hear interplay in compositions this stormy in a big band all too often, at least not since the last Darcy James Argue album. These are roomy arrangements with solos that go places. There are no exercises in the typical jazz conventions. Everyone here has something to say and they all sound great together. Ten and a half minute album centerpiece “Havmann” goes on a ride that’s just long enough and knows where it’s going. The one cover on the album, a cool take on David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”, is so chill a take that it never wanders into a hokey take and turns the song into a new creation that fits perfectly here.

In essence, this isn’t the typical big band album and it’s all the better for it.

All In, the latest album from Ben Cottrell’s Beats & Pieces Big Band, is out now on their own Efpi Records. You can buy it now at their Bandcamp page.

Ben Cottrell : director
Anthony Brown, Sam Healey, Ben Watte : saxophones
Owen Bryce, Graham South, Nick Walters : trumpet
Ed Horsey, Simon Lodge, Rich McVeigh : trombone
Anton Hunter : guitar
Patrick Hurley : piano/Rhodes
Harrison Wood : bass
Finlay Panter : drums

recorded by Alex Bonney and José Tomaz Gomes at Real World Studios, Wiltshire 13th-16th January 2014
mixed by Alex Bonney
mastered by Peter Beckmann at Technologyworks Mastering
produced by Ben Cottrell
all tracks composed & arranged by Ben Cottrell except track 6 (composed by David Bowie, arranged by Ben Cottrell)
all tracks published by Big Life Music Ltd/In All Seriousness Music Ltd except track 6 (published by Jones Music America)
artwork by Alexander Rennie

Anthony Dean-Harris

Nextbop Editor-in-Chief Anthony Dean-Harris hosts the modern jazz radio show, The Line-Up, Fridays at 9pm CST on 91.7 FM KRTU San Antonio and is also a contributing writer to DownBeat Magazine and the San Antonio Current.

Liked the post? Take a second to support Nextbop on Patreon!

Filed Under: Blog, Reviews Tagged With: All In, Anthony Brown, Anton Hunter, Beats & Pieces Big Band, Ben Cottrell, Ben Watte, Ed Horsey, Efpi, Finlay Panter, Graham South, Harrison Wood, Nick Walters, Owen Bryce, Patrick Hurley, Rich McVeigh, Sam Healey, Simon Lodge

Follow Us


6,871
followers

9,720
followers

1,182
followers

Monthly Newsletter

Get our 5 most-read posts and a list of brand new jazz albums sent directly to your inbox every month!


Support Nextbop on Patreon

Top Posts

  • Rob Shepherd Favorite Jazz Albums Decade Rob Shepherd’s Favorite Jazz Albums of the Decade
  • Best Jazz Albums 2019 Nextbop’s Best Jazz Albums of 2019
  • Nardis: A Critical Analysis of Covers
  • The Pitchfork of Jazz
  • Binker and Moses – ‘Alive in the East?’ (Album Review)

Tags

Aaron Parks A Critical Analysis of Covers BADBADNOTGOOD Ben Wendel Ben Williams Biophilia Blue Note Brad Mehldau Brainfeeder Braxton Cook Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah Concord Corey Fonville Derrick Hodge ECM Edition Gerald Clayton Gilad Hekselman Greenleaf International Anthem Jason Lindner Joel Ross Justin Brown Kassa Overall Kendrick Scott Lawrence Fields Linda May Han Oh Makaya McCraven Mark Guiliana Matthew Stevens Motéma Nate Wood Nonesuch Phronesis Pi Robert Glasper Ropeadope Sarah Elizabeth Charles Stephan Crump Stretch Music Sunnyside Taylor Eigsti Thundercat Vijay Iyer Whirlwind
© 2021 Nextbop. All rights reserved.
Use of any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our Privacy Policy.