Need some recommendations - hard driving big band

Some good suggestions so far.  For someone who likes Duke Ellington and Hard Bob, I mean Hard Bop I particularly like the Count Basie (duh!), Woody Herman's Thundering Herd, and Goodwin's Big Phat Band recs.  I would add:

Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band:

http://m.youtube.com/?reload=7&rdm=18q6jj786#/watch?v=o7quash4Cic

Kenny Clark/Francy Boland Big Band (a litle hard to find)

http://m.youtube.com/?reload=7&rdm=18q6jj786#/watch?v=iosSZvrDyf0

Rob MacConnell's Boss Brass.  If you are into vinyl and can find his Direct to Disc LP's on the Umbrella label they are dynamite.

http://m.youtube.com/?reload=7&rdm=18q6jj786#/watch?list=PLVRgqTDxIgSRgmOgkFBRR5rEfkOL4mhOI&v=VtRtNVgk-Fs

And if you like classic vocals with big band,  "Frank Sinatra At The Sands" is a must have:

http://m.youtube.com/?reload=7&rdm=18q6jj786#/watch?v=RTrI74EH7X0

Stan Kenton at Redlands University
Stan Kenton Stan Kenton Today

Stan Kenton was at his best at the end of his career in 1970s

Don Ellis Electric Bath
The Indian Lady cut is my favorite big band song

Buddy Rich Mercy Mercy

^^^ I'm a Rich/Ellis/Kenton fan too, as well as Louie Bellson and Count Basie.

I particularly like the Buddy Rich stuff on Pacific Jazz, his first label with his new band that premiered in 1966--Swingin' New Big Band, Big Swing Face, The New One, Mercy Mercy, Buddy and Soul, and Keep the Customer Satisfied. Then he had a stint with RCA. The music is good, but the recordings are a bit thin sounding. For an album or two in the mid-'70s he was with a small label called Groove Merchant. One of the albums from this period, "The Roar of '74," is a kick-ass fusion album--hard rocking with great charts, sharp musicians, and Buddy driving hard instead of swinging. He also did a direct-to-disk recording called "Class of '78."

It's really hard to go wrong with Basie from any era. His stuff on Pablo is great, especially when he had Butch Miles on drums. He also did a great album with Tony Bennett called "Strike Up the Band."

Another great great band, drummer, and band leader was Louie Bellson. I saw him live in 1975, and have a Pablo album recorded within a couple weeks of that gig. It's called "The Louie Bellson Explosion" with Blue Mitchell, Snooky Young, and Cat Anderson in the trumpet section, Don Menza and Pete Christlieb trading tenor sax solos (Menza did the big solo in Buddy Rich's Channel One Suite on Mercy, Mercy; Christlieb was the sax soloist in Steely Dan's Deacon Blues), plus Ross Tomkins on keyboards. Bellson and band also did an album with James Brown called "Soul on Top."

So much great big band music from years ago. Basie and Ellington alone is a gold mine. Most digital remasters are quite good if you like this music. I love it more and more as the years pass.

The music world could benefit from a big band revival IMHO. THis is fun, grand sounding music on a large scale. So many possibilities. The time is right! SO many baby boomers and later that have never had the opportunity to appreciate this music. Its a breathe of fresh air given much of what followed it in popularity. Does what goes around come back around ever?

Try "Songs From Lonely Avenue" by Brian Setzer Orchestra.

I also always keep an eye out for good compilation releases whenever I might find them like those from Time/Life for example that focus on specific years or time periods to get a nice sampling of various artists

BBC Big Band-I'm sure they have several recordings that would garner your interest.