Igoe’s Last Show, Your Last Chance

Tommy Igoe and ‘flexible’ Birdland Big Band to close national tour at City Opera House

By Ross Boissoneau | Feb. 17, 2018

Those who were in the audience the last time Tommy Igoe played the City Opera House might think they know what to expect. After all, the masterful drummer and his powerhouse Birdland Big Band roared through a supercharged set of tunes, mostly from his then-recent recording Eleven, with attitude, swing, and plenty of chops.

But this is a different time, a different set of tunes, and a different band. “We have five horns and five rhythm. It’s still a very big sound, but it’s more flexible,” Igoe said of the Birdland All Stars, which will be performing at the City Opera House Feb. 25.

When asked what this band plays, he turned the question around: “What don’t we play?” he said, mentioning everything from classic jazz to the Beatles to Pat Metheny. When it’s mentioned that this band has a configuration closer to Tower of Power than a traditional big band, he immediately responded, “We play Tower of Power, Brazilian, and Latin. We have a killer guitarist, Drew Zing, from Steely Dan.” So yes, Steely Dan is in the set list, along with David Bowie, Chick Corea, Thelonious Monk, even the Police.

Combining rock and jazz is nothing new for Igoe. He was playing professionally by his teens, and at the age of 20 he joined Blood, Sweat & Tears. Igoe’s San Franciso version of a big band, the Groove Conspiracy, incorporated Zing, bassist Michael League from Snarky Puppy, members of the Doobie Brothers and Tower of Power, and several vocalists to create a sound that crosses over from big band into soul jazz and pop.

Igoe said that doesn’t always work well with a true big band. A group with 13 horns can get unwieldy playing rock- or funk-inflected tunes, and with only bass and piano alongside him in the rhythm section, it’s difficult to give those kinds of songs the proper treatment. “It’s hard to have certain instruments to play authentically. For Steely Dan, you’ve got to have guitar. It’s completely different [than without a guitar] and a million times better,” he said.

He also enjoys playing alongside an additional percussionist who fills out the music with shakers, guiro, congas, and other instruments. “My job is made infinitely easier when I don’t have to cover every percussion instrument. I get to enjoy myself a lot more. For traditional Latin, you really need bongos, cajon, bells. There’s nothing like the real thing.”

Igoe said that doesn’t mean that all such combinations always work. Sometimes a certain mix of musicians just clashes, no matter how much effort they put into it. “You surround yourself with musicians you naturally blend with, but [maybe] your heart doesn’t beat in the same way. Coltrane and Billy Higgins wanted to play together. They couldn’t wait and finally did — and it didn’t work. They just didn’t work,” Igoe said.

The son of famed jazz drummer Sonny Igoe, who performed with Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, and Tony Bennett, as well as the NBC and CBS Television Orchestras, Tommy sees no need for the commonplace or mediocre. While his Birdland Big Band plays some classic big band tunes, it does so with attitude, gusto and a dedication to being the best big band out there. “There are a lot of very average big bands. I’m shocked at what the Grammys (nominate). The top five are very conservative.”

Yet Igoe doesn’t come off as opinionated so much as enthusiastic and dedicated to giving his audience the best show possible night after night. “I try to make the tour really spectacular. I’ve done a lot, and I’m really proud of that, [but] I haven’t done it all,” he said. 

The facts tend to work against that last statement. In addition to the three groups noted above, he’s toured with a sextet, gone on jazz cruises, and played drums on three Grammy award-winning recordings. He was voted the World’s No. 1 Jazz Drummer in the 2014 Modern Drummer Reader’s Poll. Igoe is also in demand as a motivational speaker and has authored instructional books and DVDs; he even wrote the drum book for the Broadway version of The Lion King.

The Traverse City show is the last date of band’s tour. Two days later, he’ll be in San Francisco recording a DVD. So he promises the show will showcase a well-oiled machine that will pull out all the stops. This performance also features Smithsonian-recognized visual artist, Jeremy Sutton, who will live-paint an original work during the performance, with a silent auction at the end of the show. 

For tickets and more information about the Feb. 25 performance, go to CityOperaHouse.org. Tickets start at $32.50.