JAZZIZ Time Capsule: 1970s Big Band

JAZZIZ Time Capsule playlists dial back the years to a specific point on the jazz timeline. Today’s destination: the 1970s, a decade of bell bottoms, big hair and even bigger bands. In jazz, fusion was all the rage, but just below that frequency, big bands were having themselves a renaissance. Not only were the famous orchestras of Count Basie, Stan Kenton and Duke Ellington still swinging,  but ensembles led by the likes of trumpeter Maynard Ferguson and drummer Buddy Rich were capturing the attention of broader audiences by incorporating elements of funk, rock and, yes, even disco into their hard-grooving repertoires.

At the same time, left-of-center jazz innovators like Charles Mingus and Don Ellis were conducting their own big band experiments by applying the spirit of free-jazz to the structures of the traditional jazz orchestra, producing mind-bending results in the process. This playlist has a taste of it all. Keep on keepin’ on, listeners.