Nice Work...if You Can Get It: Pages Of Paich Vol.2

Jeff Hedberg & C11 is a 12-piece, Chicago-based jazz ensemble, founded and lead by jazz vocalist/trumpeter and Blujazz Recording Artist, Jeff Hedberg. The group, formed in April 2008, performs large ensemble jazz in the West Coast 'Cool' style. The band features many of the top soloists, section players and freelance artists that reside in the Chicagoland area. -----CD LINER NOTES----- Nice Work ... If You Can Get It is the second in a series of albums recorded in Chicago meant to honor and preserve the genius work of master arranger/composer/pianist, Marty Paich. When I first began acquiring these charts, I resigned myself to thought that music this well written, challenging and downright hip, deserves to be performed. This project began life as I was completing coursework at Northwestern University in 2002. During my studies there I discovered the first of several albums that Paich had arranged for Mel Torm using his Dek-tette. Mel Torm & The Marty Paich Dek-tette. From the opening notes of the first cut of that album, Lulu's Back in Town, I could hear that this was no ordinary vocal album, especially not for 1955, when this masterpiece was released. It sounded (and still sounds) so hip it could have been written just yesterday. That is what initially grabbed my attention of the arranging, the timelessness of the writing. Well, that and the fact that these arrangements require the singer not to conceive himself as merely a soloist with a background accompaniment. Instead, simply put, become one more instrument in the band. I am incredibly proud of these two releases, the latter being Too Darn Hot, Pages of Paich Vol. 1. The level of artistry, joy and dedication exhibited by the musicians heard on these discs, in my opinion, is second to none.