EYAL VILNER BIG BAND

BIG APPLE STOMP

Independent Label

This is big band music that’s raw, swinging and arranged to make you want to grab a partner and rush to the dance floor.  “Big Apple Stomp” is the eighth album released by the Eyal Vilner Big Band.  Vilner and his ensemble offer the listener eighteen songs, an awesome representation of New York City’s big band ‘swing’ life.

“Jazz has such strong roots as dance music. The beat and the groove are such an essential part of it.  I wanted this record to feel like a jazz dance party,” Vilner writes in his press package.

Mission accomplished!  This album is full of joy and should inspire all ‘swing dancers’ to the floor. It was recorded “live” with the musicians playing together in the same room, ‘old-school,’ without headphones.

They open with the popular Horace Silver jazz tune, “Sister Sadie.”  Soloists Brandon lee, Julieta Eugenio, Ron Wilkins and Josh Lee pass the baton before returning to their ensemble positions.   This is followed by Duke Ellington’s “Drop Me Off in Harlem.”  Jon Thomas opens the arrangement with a stride piano introduction.  This time Vilner is featured on alto saxophone along with Ron Wilkins on trombone, and the party is just getting started.

Not only is Vilner a woodwind player, conductor and arranger, he is an excellent composer.  For this album, he has written five original tunes.  Each sounds like a jazz standard.

On track #14, Imani Rouselle adds her wonderful vocals to the party, channeling a young Ella Fitzgerald with the tone and texture of her voice. The band swings and so does Rouselle. The other powerhouse vocalist, Brianna Thomas, sings the familiar Ray Charles hit record, “Let the Good Times Roll” with gusto and conviction.  The Eyal Vilner Big Band closes this production with “Once Is Not Enough,” arranged as a romantic slow-swing that showcases Vilner’s talents on alto sax.

“For us, playing this music is not about being nostalgic. …It’s not only the history, but also the future of jazz,” Eyal Vilner asserts.

EYAL VILNER BIG BAND: Eyal Vilner, alto saxophone/clarinet/flute/conductor/ arranger/composer; Imani Rousselle & Brianna Thomas, vocals; Jon Thomas, Martha Kato, & Jordan Piper, piano; Ian Hutchison, bass; Eran Fink, drums;  TRUMPETS: John Lake, Bryan Davis, Michael Sallors, James Zollar & Brandon Lee.  TROMBONES: Ron Wilkins, Robert Edwards, Mariel Bildsten & Ron Wilkins. WOODWINDS: Julieta Eugenio, Evan Arntzen & Michael Hashim, tenor saxophone; Bill Todd & Jordan Pettay, alto sax; Josh Lee & Eden Bareket, baritone sax.

This album will become publicly available on March 8, 2026 and celebrated at Birdland Jazz Club in New York City at 5:30pm.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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