The Magnificent VII: The Newport Beach Session

Jon-Erik Kellso: Cornet
Dan Barrett: Trombone
Rick Fay: Tenor and Soprano Saxes, Vocal
Chuck Hedges: Clarinet
Johnny Varro: Piano
Bob Haggart: Bass
Gene Estes: Drums
Special Guest: Marty Grosz: Guitar, Vocal

The Magnificent VII shares several qualities with the beloved World's Greatest Jazz Band of the 1970's. The WGJB was quite an all-star band; their music looked backwards toward both the Bob Crosby Bobcats and Eddie Condon's many bands yet was fresh and vital with a point of view of its own that was not directly copying the past; quite a few memorable recordings resulted which found the distinctive soloists inspiring each other. All of those fact equally apply to the Mag VII.

—Paraphrased from the album notes by Scott Yanow, who has been writing about jazz since 1975 and is the main editor of the All Music Guide to Jazz.

Selected by Al Van Starrex as a Writers Choice for 1998 in the January/February 1999 issue of Coda. Selected as a 199 Critics Choice in the February, 2000 issue of Jazz Journal International by Floyd Levin.

Selections:
Original Dixieland One-step
It Had to be You
Struttin' with Some Barbecue
Passion Flower
The Lady's In Love with You
She's Funny That Way
On the Alamo
Rebecca (A Seasoned Citizen«s Love Song)
Ten Tons of Blues
Georgia Cabin
Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries
Hindustan
Save It, Pretty Mama
Running Wild