Curt Hanrahan Septet
Racine, Wisconsin, United States
Music
Press
"To Be Again" represents a sizzling effort by the Curt Hanrahan Septet of the Great Frozen North. The pieces are almost uniformly energetic and up tempo as if trying to shake off the Wisconsin chills and bundle themselves in the warmth and glory of jazz music. To this end, the well known Juan Tizol tune, "Caravan," somehow seems transported from its languorous desert roots to the Midwestern plains of winter. - BluJazz
"To Be Again" is a well-played, straight-ahead album by a group of mostly Wisconsin musicians (leader/saxophonist Curt Hanrahan). The members of the
ensemble are all very good hard-bop oriented performers playing a varied and attractive program of
tunes written and arranged by Wisconsin composer John Harmon, plus Juan Tizol's "Caravan" and
the standard "There Is No Greater Love." Curt Hanrahan plays flexible, dark-toned tenor and on
occasion alto or soprano. - Jazz Times
In summarizing my reaction to ‘To Be Again’, I have to say this is an album chock full of terrific songs all arranged beautifully. Everyone really seems to play their hearts out and I enjoyed the fact that each musician has a distinctive voice. The honesty and intention of each song is strikingly clear. More power to the Curt Hanrahan Septet. - Jazz Improv
Discography
'To Be Again' released under the BluJazz label in 2005
'Hangtime' released in 1996
Photos
Bio
Saxophonist, Curt Hanrahan is the head of Jazz Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
His septet, utilizing some of Wisconsins finest jazz musicians, exemplifies Curts arrangements of
internationally known composer/pianist and Wisconsin native John Harmon. This is Wisconsin jazz at its finest and shows that world class jazz is rooted throughout the US. Curt also cofounded the
Lakeshore Conservatory of Music in Racine Wisconsin, has performed with Ray Charles, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Rosemary Clooney, Johnny Mathis, and the orchestra's of Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Nelson Riddle, Harry Connick Jr., and Frank Sinatra Jr. He has also been a backup musician with the Temptation, Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, The Moody Blues, Manhattan Transfer, and Frankie Vallee and the Four Seasons. His pit orchestra experience includes the national tours of Spamalot, Little Shop of Horrors, Hairspray, West Side Story, etc. Locally, he has worked with the Milwaukee symphony, Skylight Opera, and the Fireside theatre.
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