Eyal Vilner Big Band CD Release Show at Birdland

Tel Aviv born saxophonist and composer, Eyal Vilner became one of the leading voices in the NYC swing scene. The Eyal Vilner Big Band returns to Birdland in celebration of their new release Swing Out!, the fourth album from the critically acclaimed ensemble, that follows the trajectory of its previous three discs (Introducing the Eyal Vilner Big Band, Almost Sunrise and Hanukkah) of advancing the tradition of big band jazz into the 21st Century.

Swing Out!, marks an important development in the evolution of the Eyal Vilner Big Band, one that is the direct result of the band’s interaction with the swing dance community. The album presents a marvelous collection of new arrangements of jazz and swing classics, as well as original compositions by Vilner. The album confirms the band’s well-earned stature as one of the most swinging groups on the scene today!

This show will feature the award-winning songbird of jazz Charenée Wade along with Eyal Vilner’s powerful 17 members big band comprised of some of New York’s finest musicians.

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, saxophonist/clarinetist/flutist-arranger/composer/conductor Eyal Vilner moved to New York in 2007 and graduated from the prestigious New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in 2009. Since its inception in 2008, The Eyal Vilner Big Band has collaborated with some of the top jazz legends of our time, including NEA Jazz Masters Frank Wess, Jimmy Heath and Jimmy Owens, as well as young stellar vocalists: Charenée Wade, Brianna Thomas and Charles Turner. The big band performs Vilner’s new arrangements of jazz standards as well as his original compositions. The big band’s first four albums, Introducing the Eyal Vilner Big Band, Almost Sunrise, Hanukkah and Swing Out! received rave reviews and stood strong on the American and Canadian Jazz Radio Charts.

“Eyal Vilner‘s skills as a musician are unquestionable, but his talents as a composer, arranger and bandleader are what’s truly on display on Introducing The Eyal Vilner Big Band, a remarkable debut recording from a group poised to take their place among the major big bands of the East. Vilner offers clever charts, excellent musicianship and an exciting new sound in the finest tradition of contemporary big band music.” ~All About Jazz NY

“With multiple lyrical lines and harmonic boundaries shattered with alarming regularity The Eyal Vilner Big Band is scoring their own arrangement that should soon have them at the pinnacle of big band success. While keeping one foot firmly in the history and a keen lyrical eye on the present, Eyal Vilner is a formidable force to be reckoned with in the big band idiom.” ~Critical Jazz

“(Vilner) revives a classic style of music and refines it to appeal to contemporary audiences. Vilner is all about showing beauty through music, coordinating instrument parts, layering them and integrating them into positively-charged melodies that are soothing on the ears and caressing to the soul.” ~Susan Frances, Yahoo!