ED PALERMO BIG BAND ~ KING KONG / 21st CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN

ED PALERMO BIG BAND - KING KONG / 21st CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN.
February 6, 2009
Dix Hills Performing Arts Center.
Ed Palermo has been leading his own big band for more than 25 years, an accomplishment all by itself. Prior to that he had performed or recorded with Aretha Franklin, Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Celia Cruz, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, Mel Tormé, Lou Rawls, Melba Moore, Debbie Gibson, the Spinners, and many others. He has also written and arranged for The Tonight Show, Maurice Hines, and Eddy Fischer, and his arranging talents were singled out by master arranger Gil Evans: "I first heard Ed Palermo's music in a small club in the SoHo section of Manhattan. He was using the instrumentation of a traditional 'big band' yet his arrangements and songs were anything but that. When I thought the music was going a certain direction, it would suddenly turn a corner. Ed has the ability to keep that important balance between cohesiveness and unpredictability. Ed Palermo's music is alive and represents now." Palermo has done arrangements of composers ranging from Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles to Shostakovich and Milhaud. However, he is probably best known for his arranging of the music of Frank Zappa for his big band, which has been performing the Zappa repertoire steadily for more than a decade. In 1997 he released the critically acclaimed The Ed Palermo Big Band Plays the Music of Frank Zappa on Astor Place, featuring the band with guest musicians Mike Stern and Mike Keneally. In July 2002, the Ed Palermo Band played at the Zappanale Festival in Bad Doberan, Germany, and a year later a Swedish version of the Ed Palermo Big Band performed at The Umeå Internationella Kammarmusik Festival in Sweden with guests Napoleon Murphy Brock and Keneally. Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance, their second recording of Zappa material, was released in May of 2006. In addition to leading his big band, Palermo also arranges music for the one and only James Brown.
Eddy Loves Frank is Ed Palermo's third album of Frank Zappa compositions. One of the great things about Palermo's albums is his choice of material. Showing himself to be a true fan, he often picks obscure or overlooked tracks. Let's face it, most of these song titles aren't going to register with casual Zappa fans. A case in point is "Night School," originally from Jazz from Hell, Zappa's album consisting almost entirely of Synclavier (state-of-the-art sequencing/sampling computer circa 1986) performances. Palermo's arrangement is fantastic and he contributes a really nice alto solo as well. In fact, all the arrangements are simply excellent. Another cool thing about Palermo is that he isn't afraid to alter the form of a song to make it work for the band. He doesn't change the melody at all, just the form: like writing an intro and some additional spots for soloing on "Echidna's Arf (Of You)" or for the trombone solo on "Regyptian Strut." True, Palermo doesn't strictly adhere to FZ's notes on paper, but he does it with such a deep knowledge of the tune and executes it so well that it seems natural even to folks who know the material well.

Category:

Music

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• Ed_Palermo_Big_Band
• King_Kong
• Zappa
• Frank_Zappa
• FZ
• aldodotcom
• Tributo_A_Zappa.