Master director and educator Gene Aitken of the famed University of Northern Colorado's Jazz Studies Program shows off three of his best groups on 'Hot IX,' mixed-voice jazz quintet the Axidentals, who are accompanied by a hot jazz band on 8 songs like Duke Ellington's 'Caravan,' Paul Simon's 'You Can Call Me Al' and Kurt Weil's 'Mack the Knife,' also perform one nice a cappella cut, 'Quiet Now.' 3-men, 3-women a cappella ensemble Et Cetera then gives us nice covers of 'Singing In The Rain,' Harold Arlen's 'If I Only Had a Brain' and Randy Crenshaw's 'Scat Blues in C.' All woman jazz quartet Sus 4 finishes with a hot accompanied cover of Dizzy Gillespie's 'A Night in Tunisia,' a moody a cappella cover of 'For All We Know,' and accompanied covers of 'We' and Gloria Estefan's 'Get On Your Feet.' This is another strong, spirited collection from these 3 great UNC jazz ensembles. |