Big Band Jazz! The words themselves conjure up a unique picture of sound: a wall of horns sounding like one big instrument pushed by a driving rhythm section. Then the wall opens a door and a soloist pushes through. The soloist challenges the wall or flirts with it, and then he is folded back within the wall as it presses on again. And the sound calls you forward, to listen, dance, to enjoy.

The Dallas Jazz Orchestra keeps this big band jazz tradition alive and the sound vibrant with inspired musicians, working together in ensemble or standing out as soloists, joyously playing music they wan to play. And DJO Artistic Director Curt Bradshaw, a fine player in his own right, wrote many of the charts, writing and coaxing the best from this wonderful group of players. His talent especially shines through in his writing to showcase a fine natural singer with a deep, lush voice — Victor Cager.

Cager's voice is rich with an innate vibrato, yet he can sing in a whisper. He shifts delivery and cadence seamlessly, singing emotionally without pathos. Listen to his definite and unforced time sense on "Fly Me to the Moon", his relaxed rhythm on "Our Love Is Here to Stay". Cager shifts on "I Thought About You" from haunting memory to rueful comment (the crack-track-back segment of Johnny Mercer's lyrics). Cager lets the lyrical sense of each song's narrative lead him to an almost
conversational delivery that tells the story in the song. It's great, honest singing, unpretentious and human — on every song he sings!

And then there are the fine soloists sprinkled throughout Cager's vocal numbers like subtle seasoning: Evans's tastiness, Agster's robustness, Carrol's fluid grace, Schloss's plaintiveness, and all too briefly, Baker's organic lines. The instrumental cuts also feature fine solos: a whimsical call and response duet by Sato and Schloss on "Harvey", a haunting then explosive searching by Carrol on his own "Sweet Audrey", another piercing solo by Schloss and great piano fills by Jones on "Miss Jones". Echoic punctuations of the "Minor Adjustment" line by Burgess and Galleo and Jones. Baker's organic swinging on" Emily" affects the entire band, and Spenser's solo work on "I Got It Bad" reveals a great lead player who also plays good jazz.

It's all here: good players, a fine singer, solid charts, wonderful solos, and always that tight and relaxed ensemble, that wall of sound that opens up now and then to let a soloist or a singer tell a story. And it calls you forward, to listen, to dance, to enjoy.

John Gunter