I have been impressed by a number of new albums released this Summer that are soft in volume but musically and emotionally strong.
The trio of Steve Cardenas (guitar), Ted Nash (tenor + soprano saxophones, clarinet), and Ben Allison (bass) have played on each other's albums and in live concerts for more than two decades. Nash and Allison were connected as founding members of the New York City-based Jazz Composers Collective (very active in the 1990s) while Cardenas began recording as a member of the bassist's group around the turn of the century. As an ensemble, they've recorded three albums, 2018's "Quiet Revolution" (Sonic Camera, Allison's label), 2019s "Somewhere Else – West Side Story Songs" (Plastic Sax, Nash's label), and the recently released (July 2022) "Healing Power – The Music of Carla Bley" (Sunnyside Records, the label Cardenas records for). Their 2018 debut was dedicated to the music of reed master Jimmy Guiffre and his work with guitarist Jim Hall–the shape and sound of the lineup was perfect for an exploration of that composer's music and also worked really well for the Bernstein/Sondheim songs on the second recording..
For the trio's third release, they turn to Carla Bley whose unique musical stylings has kept listeners and critics entranced and guessing for over five decades. She has led numerous ensembles including both a small and large big band as well as, most recently, a trio with bassist Steve Swallow and saxophonist Andy Sheppard. Her music reveals all sorts of influence but Ms. Bley has always a penchant for smartly-crafted melodies. The songs on "Healing Power" come from throughout the composer's career; not only do Messrs. Cardenas, Nash, & Allison do the music justice, they make the songs their own. The nine-song program opens with one of her most famous pieces "Ida Lupino". Composed in 1964 and first recorded by her-then husband Paul Bley, the music is quite introspective and has a lovely melody. Allison's quiet bass lines creates a perfect foundation for the solos.
Photo: Ludovico Granvassu
The second track, "Donkey", is even older (1962) and swings nicely with a be-bop line worthy of Charlie Parker. With the exception of "Lawns" and the title track (both from 1987), all the tracks are from the mid-1960s. The music shows both the composer's versatility and her willingness to carve out her own compositional space in the fertile Creative Music scene. The listener should be thrilled by the mysterious and emotional "Olhos de Gato" (listen below) as well as the playful "King Korn" (both pieces that feature Nash on clarinet). The former has a Spanish "tinge"(a hint of flamenco) plus splendid short solos from all three musicians. Meanwhile, the latter track has a sweet bluesy feel–the main "body" of the piece is a three-way conversation that is bright, musical, with a touch of humor.
The program closes with the blues-drenched title track; note the interaction of the bass and guitar on Cardenas's sweet solo plus how Nash "gets down" over the sympathetic background. Yes, "Healing Power" just might cure what ails the world (ah, we can dream) but this soft yet dynamic session will make you smile as it reminds you just how impressive a composer Carla Bley has been through her long and continuing career. Kudos to Steve Cardenas, Ben Allison, and Ted Nash!!
Ahhhh....the sounds of the modern Big Band. The stories on these two albums will touch your heart and the rhythms just might shake the foundations of your house.
Actress Glenn Close and saxophonist/ composer Ted Nash first met when the actress hosted the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra after the ensemble had played a show near her home in Maine. Ms. Close appeared on Nash's 2016 "Presidential Suite" (Motema Music) reading the words of Aung San Suu Kyi, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs for the country of Myanmar. They now have a fascinating new collaboration recorded with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and special guests Amy Irving, Wayne Brady, Matthew Stevenson, and the saxophonist's son Eli. "Transformation" (Tiger Turn) tells stories of change, most times personal but also communal. As Nash writes in the liner notes, "Transformation is the highest expression of change" while Ms. Close says "I wanted to create an experience from which people are comforted, but also inspired, to discover their true humanity".
Recorded live in concert at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall just weeks before the COVID pandemic shut down venues around the globe, the pieces include texts by Ted Hughes (excerpt from "Tales from Ovid"), Conrad Aiken ("Preludes from Memnon"), Judith Clarke ("One Among Many"), Matthew Stevenson ("Rising Out of Hatred"), Wayne Brady ("A Piece by the Angriest Black Man in America; or, How I Learned to Forgive Myself for Being a Black Man in America"), E.O. Wilson ("Wisdom of the Humanities"), Tony Kushner ("Reaching the Tropopause" from "Angels in America"), and Eli Nash ("Dear Dad/ Letter"). Of the 11 tracks in the program, three have a musical response as a separate track while the rest have the responses built into the performances.
The opening piece, "Creation, Part I", utilizes the words written by Hughes, to reframe the opening section of Genesis in the Old Testament. Ms. Brady and Brady tell the story while the band responses with alto saxophonist Sherman Irby and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis translate the words into music. Note the splendid backgrounds created by drummer Obed Calvaire and pianist Dan Nimmer. "Part II" comes in on an irresistible with the sections playing before trombonist Chris Crenshaw and baritone saxophonist Paul Nedzela solo over the rhythm section.
Next up is "Dear Dad/ Letter". Eli Nash tells his story of feeling awkward in his body and desires. After making the decision to "transgender", the younger Nash struggled with how to tell his family. The letter, read without anger or fear but with love and honesty, is surrounded by the long chords from the different sections with the elder Nash's soprano sax soaring above the music and words. The composer's musical response follows: the piece has an expansive melody, the orchestra creates a full background while the soprano sax plays a solo that exudes emotion, confidence, and love.
Among the other "transformations" is the story of Judith Clarke who gets paroled after 38 years in prison. Amy Irving's fine reading of Ms. Clarke's words is full of wonder, regret, and gratitude. Matthew Stevenson tells his story of meeting fellow college student Derek Black who, at the time, was a Neo-Nazi. Inviting Black to Friday night dinner (after Shabbat services) much to the dismay of his friends, Stevenson and Black find common ground by meeting many different people, people from different faiths and beliefs. Eventually, Black stepped away from his family's embrace of racist and anti-Semitic views.
Wayne Brady (pictured left) takes center stage for his "Angriest Black in America" –– the words may be rated R but the story, so well-written, comes on like a rap piece, at times, with humor mixed into the incident in which Brady is told he's too Black (in much less flattering terms). He has such a negative reaction to being surrounded by people who tell Black jokes that he begins to hate himself. Listen to how the Orchestra support the narrator (bassist Carlos Henriquez plays a modified version of Jimmy Garrison's foundational bass line from the "Acknowledgement" movement of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme").
There's more – the concert runs 78 minutes – and that is for you to uncover and discover. First listen to "Transformations" for the words, for the stories, for the excellent narrations; then return for the music. Listen to how the music supports the words, strengthening them, echo them, and respond to the emotions, be it anger, joy, fear, or acceptance. The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra shines playing this music by one its long-time members, Ted Nash. The soloists are uniformly excellent (always great to hear Wynton rise to his powers) while the rhythm section plays at its usual high standard throughout. Kudos to Glenn Close for helping to bringing this project to life and to Wayne Brady for his excellent work! As the world slowly reopens, embrace these stories and see if you can be brave as these people.
Woodwinds: Sherman Irby (lead), Marc Phaneuf,
Victor Goines, Mark Lopeman, Paul Nedzela
Trumpets: Ryan Kisor (lead), Tatum Greenblatt,
Marcus Printup, Wynton Marsalis
Trombones: Vincent Gardner (lead), Christopher
Crenshaw, Elliot Mason
Rhythm Section:
Dan Nimmer, piano; Carlos Henriquez, bass; Obed Calvaire, drums
Trumpeter Tim Hagans (born 1954, Dayton, Ohio) has taken his horn and his music around the world. He first came to critical notice in the 1970s in the big bands of Stan Kenton and Woody Herman before heading over to Sweden where he played with Dexter Gordon, Thad Jones, and others. It was Jones who encouraged the young Hagans to compose for large ensembles. Even after moving back to the United States in the 1980s, he served as music director and composer-in-residence for the Sweden-based Norbotten Big Band (1996-2010) and has been involved with the NDR BigBand (Hamburg Radio Jazz Orchestra) since 2000. As a soloist, Hagans absorbed the musical and stylistic influences of Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, and the afore-mentioned Thad Jones plus John Coltrane. He recorded a number of small group recordings for Blue Note Records and SteepleChase as well as appearing on recordings by Bob Belden, Maria Schneider, Joe Lovano, arranger Mark Masters, the Yellowjackets, and others.
Hagans latest adventure with the NDR BigBand, "A Conversation" (Waiting Moon Records), is a five-part Suite ("Movements I-V") –– for the program, the Band members are not grouped by sections but into four separate "ensembles" (the composer/ arranger calls them "divisions" and it's based on "sonics" and "emotions"; see "Personnel" below). On first listen, one can not pick out the separation but there are moments throughout where you can hear Hagans concept at work. Because of his long association with NDR, he composes to the musicians' strength; their familiarity with his ideas, how he arranges, his expectations, all that and more means they will and can go anywhere he wants to.
"Movement I" opens with various voices communicating across the sound spectrum. When the rhythm section enters, the music picks up speed; yet there is still the various instruments talking to and over each other. Six minutes in, pianist Vladyslav Sendecki steps out above the ensemble and begins a long, absorbing, solo with the collective ensemble playing counterpoint, pushing him, or creating a wash of sound. As "I" fades on long notes, that sound introduces "Movement II" which then breaks into different voices crossing the spectrum a la the opening of Gershwin's "An American in Paris" albeit more disjointed. The main melody is slow, stately, sans rhythm section, that slowly gives way to a lovely bass clarinet solo by Daniel Buch. He stays close to the melody as the percussion, guitar, and piano fill in the background. As Buch catches fire, the music picks up in intensity until the full Band reenters playing a swaggering melody that soon steps aside for what sounds like a coda of long tones but instead leads to a bass solo from Ingmar Heller that goes right to the close of the movement.
Photo: Michele Brangwengen
You get the idea. This music is hardly static, often changing directions yet making sure individual voices stand out. After a solo trumpet introduction (one of the three pieces Hagans plays on) "Movement IV" turns into a dark blues that, at times, shimmies and struts its way for four minutes until percussionist Marcio Doctor helps "lighten" the mood and change the "groove" for a delightful alto saxophone solo from Fiete Felsch. The gentle habanera rhythm that opens "Movement V" moves sinuously beneath the Aaron Copland-like melody. The muted trumpet solo (by Hagans) brings to mind the sound of Miles Davis on "Sketches of Spain" – that mood continues the middle of the piece when the music changes direction and mood, becoming a bouncy rhythm to support the fine solo from trombonist Klaus Heidenreich. As that solo comes to a close, the rhythm slows down, all the different "voices" enter, split apart then coalesce into a powerful climax and a soft coda.
"A Conversation" is splendid music, covering a wide swath of musical territory, never sounding cliched, the pieces played with feeling, emotion, and, at times, great fire. Kudos to Tim Hagans and to his compatriots at the NDR BigBand – this music sings, swings, rocks, and soothes, human interaction at its best.
TIM HAGANS, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpet (solos on Movements III, IV, & V)
Ensemble I: FIETE FELSCH, lead alto saxophone, flute (solo Movement IV) FRANK DELLE, tenor saxophone, clarinet INGOLF BURKHARDT, trumpet, flugelhorn STEVE WISEMAN, trumpet, flugelhorn CLAUS STÖTTER, trumpet, flugelhorn (solo Movement III) KLAUS HEIDENREICH, trombone (solo Movement V)
Ensemble II: PETER BOLTE, alto & soprano saxophone (solo Movement III) STEPHAN MEINBERG, trumpet, flugelhorn (solo Movement III) DAN GOTTSHALL, lead trombone (solo Movement III) DANIEL BUCH, baritone saxophone, bass clarinet (solo Movement II & III)
Ensemble III: CHRISTOF LAUER, tenor saxophone THORSTEN BENKENSTEIN, lead trumpet, flugelhorn STEFAN LOTTERMAN, trombone (solo Movement III) INGO LAHME, bass trombone
Ensemble IV JUKKIS UOTILA, drums ED HARRIS, guitar INGMAR HELLER, acoustic bass (solo Movement II) VLADYSLAV SENDECKI, piano (solo Movement I) MARCIO DOCTOR, percussion (solo Movement IV)
Most readers of this blog know just how much I love Large Ensemble Music. In the next four weeks, there will be, at least, five new Big Band albums released (plus one already issued that I just received) and each one is worth exploring. This post does not have reviews per se but, hopefully, will whet your appetite to check these out.
Singer and actor Rubén Blades, born in Panama, made his recording debut on 1970 on Fania Records singing in front of the Pete Rodriguez Orquesta. Since then, he has appeared on numerous recordings as a leader or co-leader (nearly 40) –– he's also appeared in 40 movies plus had/ has recurring roles on several television series. He's also been active politically. On April 16, Blades can be heard with Roberto Delgado & Orquesta on "SALSWING" (Rubén Blades Productions), his third album with this band over the past six years; this is the first of the three that contains English vocals. Looking at the cover, you can see the myriad influences on Blades and the musicians in the Orquesta. He's in excellent voice here, even "crooning" a la Frank Sinatra at times, and the musicianship of the large ensemble is top-notch.
"Virtual Birdland" (ZOHO Records) is the latest album from Arturo O'Farrill and The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ALJO created an "Emergency Fund" for freelance musicians whose livelihood had ground to a halt, and also began a weekly stream of full-length concerts called "Virtual Birdland". You can see the concert streams on YouTube. For those streams and the album, all of the musicians and guests were recorded in their homes (throughout the world). Same thing for the album where all the musicians' contributions were mixed together in Kuwait by engineer Amin Farid Abdal. The music sounds live, lively, filled with smart arrangements and great solos. The various guests, who include saxophonist Paquito D' Rivera, French-American vocalist Malika Zarra, Kuwaiti guitarist and vocalist Ghazi Faisal Al-Mulaifi, and Kuwaiti percussion ensemble Boom Diwan. You'll won't be able to keep yourself from dancing to this music! The album, released on April 9, is basically the "Best of" the weekly concert series.
On April 19, Chronograph Records of Canada will issue "Saskatchewan Suite", a powerful new recording by the Saskatchewan All Star Big Band. The 21-member ensemble, composed of musicians born or raised or currently living in the Province, was organized to play this "Suite" by the Regina Jazz Society who recruited composer, arranger, and pianist Fred Stride to write a musical history of the Canadian Province, from its days as a part of the lands of the First Nations, then the influx of immigrants, surviving the harsh winters and so much more. Many of the players are known beyond the Canadian border. The music was recorded live in front of an enthusiastic audience.
Actress Glenn Close and saxophonist/ composer Ted Nash have a fascinating new collaboration that they recorded with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and special guests Amy Irving, Wayne Brady, Matthew Stevenson, and the saxophonist's son Eli. "Transformation" (Tiger Turn - issued on May 7) tells stories of change, most times personal but also communal. Recorded live in concert just weeks before the COVID pandemic shut down venues around the globe, the stories are powerful, the music never gets in the way of the words, and the Wayne Brady piece (which he wrote and performed) will change your opinion of him forever! The Orchestra, as usual, plays with power and grace with solos from many members sprinkled throughout the 11-song program.
Here are the two principals talking about the project:
Over the past decade, drummer/ composer/ conceptualist Ulysses Owens Jr. has been busy as a leader and sideman. Now, he's released his first Big Band album––"Soul Conversations" (Outside In Music) blends blues, swing, bebop, pop music, hard bop, and more into a delightful 73-minute adventure. Recorded over three nights in concert at Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center,the 17-piece ensemble is filled with fine young players from the New York City area plus several veterans (for example, trombonist and associate co-producer Michael Dease) as well as several guests (including vibraphonist Stefon Harris). There are moments when the Band roars with excitement as well as quieter passages that are emotionally rich. The album hits the stores and online on May 7.
Also on May 7, the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, Richard Gillis director, releases its fourth album. "Twisting Ways" (self-released) combines compositions by David Braid (piano) and Phillip Côté with the four-part title track featuring lyrics by Dr. Lee Tsang. The composers share writing credits on the title track while each contribute one more piece (Braid's "Lydian Sky" also features lyrics by Dr. Tsang while Côté's "Fleur Variation" shines a spotlight on vibraphonist Stephan Bauer). This is powerful music, well-executed, and brimming with invention.
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