Great Blue Heron - Rats! (2019)

Great Blue Heron (GBH) is a jazz ensemble based in Mill Valley CA. The group has played together since 2012 on Special Projects Records (SPR). GBH specializes in rearranging and recording classic jazz tunes, adding multi-layered harmonies and duets over outstanding trio arrangements. There are also some horn lines and the occasional guitar in the mix.

The songs in this collection were originally recorded in the 20’s through 60s by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Joe Henderson, Benny Goodman and Tony Bennett, among others. Harry Connick Jr., Michael Buble’, Diana Krall, Crystal Gayle, Natalie Cole, Joe Cocker, Willie Nelson and others have released more recent versions. Great composers behind the music included Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Duke Ellington, Isham Jones, Gus Kahn, Errol Garner, Jimmy van Heusen and others. GBH is proud to build on this legacy of (primarily) big band arrangements and beautiful vocal performances with a sparse yet full piano, bass and drum rhythm section, and adding complementary vocal harmonies and horn lines to create an innovative, full sound.