Olympic Fanfare and Theme - New Jazz Arrangement by Miho Hazama

[Disco Stu 15,483]

This jazz big band arrangement of Williams' classic Olympic theme is really fascinating in how it deconstructs and completely re-imagines the piece from the ground up.

 

 

1:31 - 1:54 is really cool and interesting in its re-setting of the main fanfare.

 

And by the way, the album this is from is nominated for a Grammy for Best Large Ensemble Jazz Album.

 

Here's a quote from Hazama about it:

Quote

And as on her previous efforts, Hazama also includes one non-original piece, nodding this time to one of her major classical influences, John Williams, with a deconstructed take on his 1984 “Olympic Fanfare and Theme”: “There are so many small phrases or motives in the piece, all very catchy, and they’re such great ingredients to cook with. I listed all the motives, I think eight in total, and I made a kind of map, trying to use them all in some way.”

 

https://mihohazama.bandcamp.com/album/dancer-in-nowhere

[geom_00 15]

I am a HUGE fan of this piece by Williams.  It is in fact this piece that put Williams on the radar for me, and not his film music.

 

The composer did a REALLY good job on this, and I like it.

[Thor 6,777]

Yes, that's a pretty good version. It's sufficiently far away from the original composition to make it interesting on its own. It goes pretty wild there for a while, before the coda. It's a bit like that piece with two "colliding" marching bands, the "Buckle Down Winsocki" track that Williams recorded for his RHYTHM IN MOTION album.

[SteveMc 2,673]

Groovy

[igger6 847]

This is incredible; how did you ever find it?!

[Disco Stu 15,483]

57 minutes ago, igger6 said:

This is incredible; how did you ever find it?!

 

Modern big band is a particular interest of mine as I think there are leaders/arrangers working in that space that are pushing jazz forward in really cool and innovative ways.  It's not just a scene for slick, toothless throwback swing/bebop bands, there are people like Alan Ferber, John Hollenbeck, Christopher Zuar, Ted Nash, Dafnis Prieto, etc. etc. that are doing interesting things with big band music.

 

Anyway, every year I take a look at the Grammy nominees for Best Large Ensemble Jazz Album to see what albums I might have missed over the last year.  Hazama's album was nominated, I hadn't heard of it before, and I was very surprised to see the Olympic piece on the tracklist when I looked it up to stream it!

[MrJosh 824]

6 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

 

Modern big band is a particular interest of mine as I think there are leaders/arrangers working in that space that are pushing jazz forward in really cool and innovative ways.  It's not just a scene for slick, toothless throwback swing/bebop bands, there are people like Alan Ferber, John Hollenbeck, Christopher Zuar, Ted Nash, Dafnis Prieto, etc. etc. that are doing interesting things with big band music.

 

Anyway, every year I take a look at the Grammy nominees for Best Large Ensemble Jazz Album to see what albums I might have missed over the last year.  Hazama's album was nominated, I hadn't heard of it before, and I was very surprised to see the Olympic piece on the tracklist when I looked it up to stream it!

Wow, recently I was actually wanting to explore whoever might be doing modern takes on big band and/or swing music. Thanks for listing out some names!

 

If you have any other suggestions I'll add them to my list as I start exploring.

[King Mark 3,546]

urgh, I don't like it

[Ricard 2,107]

  

1 hour ago, King Mark said:

urgh, I don't like it

 

Why not?

[_deleted_ 203]

Amazing!

[King Mark 3,546]

1 hour ago, Ricard said:

  

 

Why not?

 

i don't feel, it elevates Williams thematic material in any ways

[artguy360 1,788]

Wow, I love this! So fun and groovy.