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The music that the Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine makes could never be called noise. But it sure is joyful.
On the new album, “Mazel Tov Kocktail!,” the San Diego-based group rolls out a rollicking batch of songs that swings from dizzying big-band showstoppers (“Gimme That,” an original by Andrew Neu) to smoky torch tunes (“You’d Better Love Me While You May,” featuring vocalist Janet Hammer), to dancefloor ready funk (“Bass: The Final Frontier,” featuring famed San Diego bassist Nathan East). There are new tunes, old tunes and even a song inspired by klezmer music, all of them set in the key of happy.