Jimmy McConnell’s Super Big Band Swings Canoga Park

Bandleader and flugelhorn master Jimmy McConnell is not only a man of musical notes, he is also a man of musical letters, with a PhD in Music and a BS in Instrumental Music from Columbia University. With his mission statement “I want to again give people real jazz and blues,” McConnell went all-out, bringing his largest band to the Valley Jazz Club, the 17-piece plus vocalist “Jimmy McConnell Super Big Band.” With instruments, necessary playing-room, and complete placement of microphones by the Club’s ace soundman, the band overflowed the raised, step-up stage, with McConnell both leading the band and playing his flugelhorn from the area below on the floor, in front of the stage. It worked perfectly (well, almost perfectly, but more on that later). Local jazz clubs and other venues line up to book McConnell’s bands, usually his popular quintet, but the Super Big Band was a new and exciting experience for this Club. Their opening tune was a personal favorite of mine, Duke Ellington’s “Take The A-Train,” with the enormous punch-power of the big band cranked up to play the Count Basie Band arrangement. That kept all 17 musicians quite involved, with the saxophone section featured. The music drew dancers to the dance floor, and the accentuated, stronger than usual, beat had many seated in the audience responding in place with rhythmic toe or finger tapping. As the