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Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band On JazzSet

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band plays the Monterey Jazz Festival. Tomas Ovalle/Courtesy of the Monterey Jazz Festival hide caption

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Tomas Ovalle/Courtesy of the Monterey Jazz Festival

JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band On JazzSet

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The Big Phat Band makes its Monterey Jazz Festival debut with "Rhapsody in Blue" and "Hunting Wabbits," inspired by Carl Stalling's 1940s scores for Warner Brothers cartoons.

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band On JazzSet

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Wynton Marsalis And Vince Giordano, Big Phat Band On JazzSet

Louis Armstrong Continuum on stage. Co-leader Vince Giordano is on tuba in the back row. Frank Stewart/Jazz at Lincoln Center hide caption

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Frank Stewart/Jazz at Lincoln Center

JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater

Wynton Marsalis And Vince Giordano, Big Phat Band On JazzSet

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We wave the jazz flag with music transcribed from Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives and Sevens — quintet and septet recordings from the 1920s — and a new Grammy-winning arrangement of "Rhapsody in Blue."

Wynton Marsalis And Vince Giordano, Big Phat Band On JazzSet

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Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band: Live At Monterey Jazz Festival

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band in concert at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Tomas Ovalle hide caption

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Tomas Ovalle

Toast Of The Nation

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band: Live At Monterey Jazz Festival

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The jazz orchestra, brassy and slick, powers through Goodwin's charts from the main stage of the historic festival. Included is a performance of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band: Live At Monterey Jazz Festival

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Music Interviews

Big Phat Band Gains Young Fans with Jazz

Sheilah Kast talks with The Big Phat Band's leader, Gordon Goodwin, about his revival of big-band music for a new era. Goodwin pulls in some of L.A.'s best studio sidemen to perform his intricate and swinging arrangements. The group is not only popular in jazz venues; it also has a following in high schools and colleges, where they often perform. Their CD XXL will be released next month in a dual CD/DVD format on Silverline records.

Big Phat Band Gains Young Fans with Jazz

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A Big, Phat 'Rhapsody In Blue'

Gordon Goodwin arranged "Rhapsody In Blue" for his Big Phat Band. Concord Music Group hide caption

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Concord Music Group

Music Interviews

A Big, Phat 'Rhapsody In Blue'

As is true for so many great musicians, the compositions of George Gershwin live on well after his death. Case in point: Jazz musician Gordon Goodwin has arranged Gershwin's beloved piece for his brassy Big Phat Band.

A Big, Phat 'Rhapsody In Blue'

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