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Steve Fidyk Live Wire Broad Band: Red Beats

By Jack Bowers
March 1, 2023
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Steve Fidyk Live Wire Broad Band: Red Beats

Would a big band by any other name swing as hard? That's really hard to say (pardon the pun) but is certainly true on Red Beats, an implacably swinging album deftly performed by drummer

Steve Fidyk

drums
b.1968

" data-original-title="" title="">Steve Fidyk's fashionably named Live Wire Broad Band. Fidyk, who spent more than two decades keeping flawless time for the U.S. Army Blues and now serves as chair of the drum set department at the University of the Arts School of Music in Philadelphia, enlisted a number of his former armed service colleagues to lend a hand, which certainly didn't harm the ensemble's combat readiness.

Although Fidyk's former partner in swing with the Army Blues, arranger

Mark Taylor

composer / conductor
b.1961

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Taylor, couldn't make the date, trumpeters Graham Breedlove,

Kevin Burns

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Kevin Burns,

Tim Leahey

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Tim Leahey and

Tyler Mire

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Tyler Mire are among the enlistees, as are saxophonist Joseph Henson, trombonist

Harry Watters

trombone

" data-original-title="" title="">Harry Watters, pianist

Chris Ziemba

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Chris Ziemba and others whose names aren't as readily familiar. Either Red Beats was recorded in more than one session or Fidyk assembled a really big band, as the personnel list numbers eleven trumpets, eight saxophones, nine trombones (no, not seventy-six), four guitars and four basses. The only players seated by themselves are Fidyk, Ziemba and organist

Brian Charette

organ, Hammond B3
b.1972

" data-original-title="" title="">Brian Charette.

The album itself consists of nine of Fidyk's multi-layered and high-powered compositions, scored by half a dozen first-class arrangers (or arrangers first-class). Trumpeter Leahey, who didn't solo nearly often enough with the Air Force's Airmen of Note, leads the parade on the bright and plain-spoken "Bebop Operations" and is superb, as is veteran tenor saxophonist and Steely Dan alum

Walt Weiskopf

saxophone
b.1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Walt Weiskopf. Leahey reappears with alto Henson on the fast-moving "Gaffe," Weiskopf with pianist Ziemba on the galvanic "Churn." The Broad Band assumes a funky persona on "The Flip Flopper" (solos by Charette and trombonist

Kevin Cerovich

trombone

" data-original-title="" title="">Kevin Cerovich) and is free-wheeling and focused on "Food Court Drifter," whose perceptive solos are by Charette, Henson and tenor

Xavier Perez

saxophone, tenor

" data-original-title="" title="">Xavier Perez.

"Untimely" is yet another bustling flag-waver encasing incisive statements by Perez, Wilkins and trumpeter

Andrew Carson

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Andrew Carson to complement Fidyk's typically sharp and stalwart timekeeping. While not strictly a ballad, the easygoing "One for T.J." offers a pleasing change of pace, gliding smoothly ahead behind well-framed solos by Breedlove on flugelhorn and

Chris Farr

saxophone, tenor

" data-original-title="" title="">Chris Farr on soprano. Farr moves to tenor to team with Charette and guitarist

Michael Kramer

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Michael Kramer on the rough-hewn "Loopholes," which leads to the earnest, fast-paced finale, "Good Turns" (with emphatic solo turns by alto Henson, trombonist Watters, baritone

Mark Allen

saxophone, baritone

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Allen and guitarists Wilkins and Jeff Barone). If indeed Fidyk had swing uppermost in his mind there is no cause for complaint, as the Live Wire Broad Band swings from stem to stern while carrying out its leader's fondest wishes and making Red Beats an especially desirable release.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Bebop Operations; The Flip Flopper; Untimely; Churn; Food Court Drifter; Gaffe; One for T.J.; Loopholes; Good Turns.

Personnel

Steve Fidyk

drums

Additional Instrumentation

Luke Brandon, Graham Breedlove, Kevin Burns, Andrew Carson, Thomas Eby, Tamela Fidyk, Matt Gallagher, Chris Kaplan, Tim Leahey, Tyler Mire, Fareed Simpson-Hankins: trumpet; Mark Allen, Mike Cemprola, Chris Farr, Daniel Henson, Joseph Henson, Josh Lee, Xavier Perez, Walt Weiskopf: saxophone; Scott Blanke, Hailey Brinnel, Kevin Cerovich, Sam Gellerstein, Ian Kaufman, Jake Kraft, Randy Kapralick, Omeed Nyman, Harry Watters: trombone; Jeff Barone, Michael Kramer, Parris Spivey, Jack Wilkins: guitar; Brian Charette: organ; Christopher Ziemba: piano; Regan Brough, Micah Jones, Nathan Kawaller, Jack Synoski: bass.

Album information

Title: Red Beats | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: Blue Canteen Music

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