There’s no disjunction between using the big band to play both vintage swing and jagged contemporary pieces. DOWNBEAT
There’s a fabulous variety of moods here - refined, intellectual, wistful and zany, sometimes all within the same selection. Solos are maddeningly brief but sharp, keen, danceable a-plenty.
NYC JAZZ RECORDS
Just as Ellington would rehearse constantly to obtain a precision to his sound, the Umaut Big Band is punctilious, and in that punctiliousness an infectious swing is born. To quote Fats Waller, "yeaaaah."
ALL ABOUT JAZZ
There’s not disjunction between using the big band to play both vintage swing and jagged contemporary pieces. In fact, since he (Pierre-Antoine Badaroux) plays the saxophone at age 7, he’s looked beyond genre. DOWNBEAT
Usually playing in contemporary improvised music ensembles, the fourteen musicians (...) have delivered the essence of the spirit of this beautiful music by establishing a strong link between past and future, tradition and creation.
COULEURS JAZZ
In terms of slightly off-centre inspirations, consider the Umlaut Big Band’s Euro Swing Vol. 2 . While the 14-piece French orchestra puts a new spin on swing-era tunes, the transcriptions on which they’re based – mostly created by its saxophonist/director Pierre Antoine Badaroux – are unique.
THE WHOLE NOTE
Badaroux provides background information about the 15 tunes on the album,
all of which are played with infectious buoyancy and precision.
THE CHICAGO READER
Just as Ellington would rehearse constantly to obtain a precision to his sound,
the Umlaut Big Band is punctilious, and in that punctiliousness an infectious swing is born.
ALL ABOUT JAZZ