The great thing about the Internet, as we all know, is that when you are looking for one thing, you can usually find something else quite interesting. In this case I was trying to track down a YouTube clip of a 1945 Tad Dameron tune called “Hot House.” It’s a well-known bebop composition I’ve been working on lately and I wanted to hear the most famous version, which belongs to Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, recorded live in May of 1953 at Massey Hall in Toronto. You may know that this is sometimes called “the greatest jazz concert ever.”
I found it, listened to it and it was great.
Right next to it on my web search page was a link to the The Hot House Big Band, which bills itself as Ireland’s most exciting big band, an assertion I will take at face value. Their website goes on to say they are comprised of seventeen full time professional musicians under the leadership Mark Wilde.
Apparently, if you find yourself in Dublin on any Monday night you can stop by the Mercantile on Dublin Street to check out some very fine big band music. The point is, if I need one, that there is so much great music out there, you just have to find it.
In any case, I love big band music and the fact that it’s being played all over the world. And these folks sound great.
This is a clip with special guest Brian Byrne on a song called “Ryan’s Theme.”
Cross-posted at Listening To Now
Follow me on Twitter at @RichardKBarry
Retired political staffer/civil servant. Dual U.S./Canadian citizen writing about politics and the arts on both sides of the border.