Milt Jackson with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra: Bags' Groove

Brothers Jeff and John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton have co-led the premier West Coast big band for the last 20+ years. Whether backing vocalists Diana Krall or Rosemary Clooney or presenting John Clayton's arrangements of tunes by Duke, Sonny Stitt or Horace Silver, the group performs impeccably arranged, historically minded, ultra-swinging charts. As with most modern big band performances, "Bags' Groove" offers an updated twist on a familiar historical mainstay. Milt Jackson's classic bop tune is energetically arranged here to evoke the classic Hampton sound. Yet the interactive rhythm section playing behind Jackson, especially drummer Hamilton and pianist Cunliffe, reinvents the vibist/big-band relationship, giving a familiar sonic combination an entirely new life.