Economics was the main reason the big bands died off in the 1940s and cost is the reason large jazz bands seldom venture out on tour. This hasn’t prevented jazz musicians from continuing to explore the orchestral possibilities of large ensembles, usually in stand-alone concerts or recording studios.
A recent example, the South Florida Jazz Orchestra, brings nearly 30 musicians together in elaborate setting of compositions by Rick Margitza. A saxophonist with a distinguished sideman career, Margitza worked alongside Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea and others as well as enjoying a long relationship under his own name with Blue Note Records. The music was chosen in polished arrangements by bassist-band leader Chuck Bergeron, an instructor at the University of Miami. Most of the players were recruited from—as the band’s name says—southern Florida, but heard among them is Milwaukee expat trumpeter Brian Lynch.
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