Proper from the bounce, the horns hit with crisp urgency, heralding the arrival of Igmar Thomas’ Revive Huge Band on the Tiny Desk. This isn’t your grandparents’ — and even your great-grandparents’ — large band sound. Sure, it feels acquainted, however the driving grooves are undeniably hip-hop.
Thomas, whose many hats embody trumpeter, composer and musical director, is a founding member of Revive Music Group. The brainchild of the late Meghan Stabile, Revive has created platforms and alternatives, together with the massive band, for up-and-coming musicians to shine and reshape the panorama of jazz.
On this set, Thomas welcomes fellow founding member Raydar Ellis, affiliate professor on the Berklee School of Music, to hitch. Initially produced by Ellis, “TO KINDA LOUNGE AROUND” impressed Thomas to show the monitor into his first large band composition. Although he conducts the vast majority of this set, Thomas additionally performs a fiery trumpet solo right here. Each Ellis and Thomas shout out “fallen troopers” of the Revive Music Group, together with Stabile and the late saxophonists James Casey and Casey Benjamin.
Performing this Tiny Desk live performance required Thomas to rearrange the entire tunes for a smaller large band. He does so efficiently. All the pieces stays true to the sonic integrity of his authentic compositions and the legacy of massive band jazz.
SET LIST
- “RPM’s”
- “TO KINDA LOUNGE AROUND”
- “THE COMING”
- “R&P”
MUSICIANS
- Igmar Thomas: conductor, trumpet
- Brent Birckhead: alto saxophone
- Chelsea Baratz: tenor saxophone
- Saul Dautch: baritone saxophone
- Miles Keingstein: trumpet
- Sam Hoyt: trumpet
- Barry Stephenson: bass
- James Rogers: bass trombone
- Corey A. Wallace: trombone
- Alex Heffron: guitar
- John Davis: drums
- Raydar Ellis: vocals
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Nikki Birch
- Director: Joshua Bryant
- Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
- Host/Sequence Producer: Bobby Carter
- Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Mitra I. Arthur, Keren Carrión
- Video Editor: Maia Stern
- Audio Engineer: Hannah Gluvna
- Manufacturing Assistants: Ashley Pointer, Dora Levite
- Photographer: Alanté Serene
- Tiny Desk Staff: Lars Gotrich, Kara Body
- Government Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Sequence Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
