''The Pugilist'' is a

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

album by The BBB Featuring Bernie Dresel. The recording is the third release from The BBB Featuring Bernie Dresel.

Background

Production of ''The Pugilist'' was during the COVID 19 coronavirus pandemic, during most of 2021. Unlike the two earlier BBB releases, recorded with the full band in concert or at

Capitol Studios Capitol Studios is a recording studio located at the landmark Capitol Records Building in Hollywood, California, United States. The studios, which opened in 1956, were initially the primary recording studios for the American record label Capi ...

, ''The Pugilist'' was recorded without the band ever playing together at the same time. The tracks were recorded separately during the first months of 2021, instrument by instrument from remote locations (self recording). Bernie Dresel’s drums were recorded first, then he overdubbed secondary drum set parts (heard in the rear loudspeakers in surround and Auro-3D); the other instrumental tracks were added to eventually create an edited and mixed master.Neon Jazz Interview with Joe Dimino, Tuesday, November 30, 2021
/ref> The others performers recorded to a click track, used to synchronize their tracks to each other. A '

click track A click track is a series of audio cues used to synchronize sound recordings, sometimes for synchronization to a Film, moving image. The click track originated in early sound movies, where optical marks were made on the film to indicate precise ...

' provides the musician with precise beats per minute (bpm) for each tune recorded; the range was from 70 bpm to 280 bpm.Bernie Dresel, The Pugilist, album
/ref> Dresel's drum kit was recorded with 15 microphones, all of the recording were captured at 96-kHz/24-bit resolution. After the tracks were completely recorded, a preliminary mix was enhanced with reverberation and 'room sound', which served as a reference point for the final mixing. Patrick Lemmens loaded all of the individual tracks into Avig Pro Tools and set the mix prior to Dresel and Gary Reber arriving at Galaxy Studios in Belgium. The final mix was achieved by working closely with Wilfried Van Baelen at Galaxy. The album is recorded and mastered in Auro-3D, ''The Pugilist'' is also offered on Blu-ray Disc (BD). Auro-3D audio formatting was achieved by adding natural 3D sound reflection of Galaxy Hall in Mol.

Promotion

''The Pugilist'' album was both released and premiered on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at Herb Alpert's Vibrato Grill & Jazz in the

Bel Air, Los Angeles Bel Air (or Bel-Air) is a residential neighborhood on the Los Angeles Westside, in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains in the U.S. state of California. Together with Beverly Hills, California, Beverly Hills and Holmby Hills, Bel Air fo ...

area of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

: this performance was also Dresel's 60th ‘Birthday Bash.’ Groov Marketing and consulting is the primary outlet handling the promotion on radio and digital platforms.Groov Marketing page: The BBB Featuring Bernie DreselThe Pugilist, Dig It Recordings
/ref>

Reception

"...doesn't let up through the end of an earnest and aggressive session that sets ablaze four well-known standards and ten original compositions including one apiece by Miles Davis, Michael Jackson and Frank Zappa." *''Jack Bowers,

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

'' "This disc shows (sic)...a heavy beat, emphatic licks and impeccable playing." *''Ross Boissoneau, Local Spins Best of 2021''

Charts

Track listing

# "The Pugilist" (James McMillen) – 3:49 # "Running and Jumping" (Andrew Neu) – 5:05 # "Lulu’s Back In Town" (

Al Dubin Alexander Dubin (June 10, 1891 – February 11, 1945) was an American lyricist. He is best known for his collaborations with the composer Harry Warren. Life Al Dubin came from a Russian Jewish family that immigrated to the United States from Sw ...

Harry Warren Harry Warren (born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna; December 24, 1893 – September 22, 1981) was an American composer and the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ...

} – 3:58 # "

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" is a song by American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson. Written by Jackson and released by Epic Records on July 10, 1979, the song is the first track on Jackson's fifth studio album, ''Off the Wall'' (1979). Ad ...

" (

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

) – 4:23 # "

You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" is a popular song written by Cole Porter for the 1943 film '' Something to Shout About'', where it was introduced by Janet Blair and Don Ameche. The song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original S ...

" (

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...

) – 5:46 # "World Premiere" (James McMillen) – 4:50 # "Positive for the Blues" (Nan Schwartz) – 5:28 # "10or 2oon" (Brian Williams) – 3:05 # "Rico’s Rowdy Rhumba" (James McMillen) – 4:30 # "

I Got Rhythm "I Got Rhythm" is a piece composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and published in 1930, which became a jazz standard. Its chord progression, known as the " rhythm changes", is the foundation for many other popular jazz tunes su ...

" (

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swan ...

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the ...

) – 3:41 # "

La Vie En Rose ; ) is the signature song of popular French singer Édith Piaf, written in 1945, popularized in 1946, and released as a single in 1947. The song became very popular in the United States in 1950, when seven versions reached the ''Billboard'' cha ...

" (

Louiguy Louis Guglielmi (3 April 1916 – 4 April 1991), known by his pen name Louiguy (), was a Spanish-born French people, French musician of Italian descent. He wrote the melody for Édith Piaf's lyrics of "La Vie en Rose" and the Latin jazz com ...

Edith Piaf Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning '' strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian lang ...

} – 3:12 # " All Blues" (

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

) – 4:51 # "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?" (Andrew Neu) – 5:42 # " Zomby Woof" (

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

) – 5:00

Personnel

Bernie Dresel Bernard John Dresel Jr. (born November 12, 1961) is an American studio drummer and percussionist. He has been with multi-Grammy award-winning artists and recordings; most notably having performed and recorded extensively with The Brian Setzer Or ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* The BBB: ** Brian Scanlon -

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly small ...

(lead) ** Kirsten Edkins -

** Rob Lockart, Tom Luer - tenor saxophone ** Brian Williams -

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

** Dave Richards, Jamie Hovorka, Anthony Bonsera -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

(lead) ** Carl Saunders, Jeff Bunnell -

** Alan Kaplan -

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

(lead) ** Ryan Dragon, James McMillen -

** Juliane Gralle -

bass trombone The bass trombone (, ) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to facilitate low register playing, and u ...

** Andrew Synowiec -

guitars The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and

electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

** Djordje Stijepovic - Upright Slap Bass ** Carl Saunders -

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

(7) ** Anthony Bonsera -

and synth piano (14) * Jack Cooper (3), James McMillen (4, 9, 10), Dave Richards (5), Tim Simonec (11), Jeff Bunnell (12), Anthony Bonsera (14) - arrangers Production * Wilfried Van Baelen -

Executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

, Gary Reber - Producer *Patrick Lemmens -

Recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

*Patrick Lemmens, Wilfried Van Baelen -

Mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

s *Tom Van Achte -

Mastering engineer Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the Audio mixing (recorded music), final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source ...

*Recorded at various locations in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and compiled by Patrick Lemmens *Mixed at Galaxy Studios,

Mol, Belgium Mol () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. The municipality only comprises the town of Mol. In 2021, Mol had a total population of 37,021 inhabitants. The total area ...

External links

* * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pugilist, The 2021 albums Big band albums