The Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra, founded by Curt Hanrahan, is an A-list roster of Milwaukee musicians who not only swing their behinds off, they have something original to say by way of performances with a perfect balance of classic and contemporary standards and originals that are swinging, soulful, traditional and cutting-edge.
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Milwaukee Jazz Origins
The Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra was born out of Hanrahan's involvement with the annual Woody Herman Jazz Festival assembling former members of Herman's various ensembles to perform and began putting a local big band together to perform along with the soloists. After doing this for a few years, he began to have composers and arrangers write new music for this band and actively seek performance opportunities outside of the Herman festival. Around this time, Curt decided to put a family band together with his son Tim, a bassist, who graduated from school with a degree in Jazz studies and, his brother Warren on drums. This became the catalyst to record new and old music using some of the finest jazz musicians in the Milwaukee area and together these musicians, along with the Hanrahan family, became the core of the Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra. The Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra strives to emulate, through its performances and educational endeavors, the same benevolence Woody Herman demonstrated over 50 years of big band performance.
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Welcome to Swingsville! (2017)
Released in 2017 on the Chicago-based Blujazz label, Welcome to Swingsville! is the Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra's debut album. This album features seven live and unrehearsed standards by Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Gil Evans and includes original compositions, such as Curt Hanrahan's "IMP" and "Seattle" and Steve Lewandowski's "Jocko".
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Recorded live at the Suburbon Bourbon in 2021 and released in 2022 on Blujazz, Take It All highlights Wisconsin composers and arrangers. This albums includes original works such as Steve Lewandowski's "Definition", Curt Hanrahan's "Souljourner" and "Covidity", as well as the title track "Take it All" by legendary Wisconsin composer and educator, Fred Sturm. Also included on this album are fresh arrangements of "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "We All Love Eddie Harris."
Reviews
Dave Rogers WTJU 102.9 FM
"Here's a group on a mission: let's take some old jazz and op songs and make them swing, really swing!"
Midwest Jazz Record
"...a crew of Milwaukee jazzbos through a delightfully mixed big band program, they hit it right out of the box with a swinging, commercial energy that's inclusive and invites everyone into the tent - particularly if they want to hear some killer blowing, all home grown and away from the beaten path. High octane, high energy, and a high old grand time. Well done."
Jazz Times
"...well played...very good hard-pop-oriented performer...Curt Hanrahan plays flexible, dark-toned tenor"
Jack Bowers
All About Jazz
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"...a sprightly studio session that proves above all that the art of swinging remains operative and well in Milwaukee."