Jim Knapp Orchestra
L.A.B. Performance Space
Seattle, WA
January 9th, 2006

The Jim Knapp Orchestra inaugurated a first Monday of the month series at the Seattle Drum School's intimate and acoustically friendly L.A.B. Performance Space with a superb concert of Knapp originals and arrangements on January 9th, 2006. The sound reinforcement was crystalline in its clarity, the music performed adventurous yet accessible, the solo work by the Orchestra's members consistently creative and often inspired. A relatively small audience of approximately 30 to 40 people was treated to a succession of examples why The Jim Knapp Orchestra has received widespread critical acclaim and become one of the Seattle area's most vibrant large jazz ensembles.

In addition to being the first performance at L.A.B., this concert marked hornist Tom Varner's public debut with the Orchestra. You can count the number of jazz French horn players on the fingers of one hand with a digit or two left over. It is a fiendishly difficult instrument to play. Most hornists have enough trouble keeping the beast in tune and obtaining a pleasing tone while following a score without attempting to improvise. Varner is the premiere hornist in creative improvised music. He has led his own adventurous ensembles for a number of years as well as performing with a lengthy list of jazz greats, and has recorded seven ingenious CDs beginning in 1981. Varner recently relocated from the New York City metro area to Seattle, and that's good news indeed for Emerald City jazz fans.

Knapp's "The Old World is a reflective composition that indeed has an old world feeling. John Hansen's crisp piano solo in the portion of the piece that moves into a faster "three feel was supported brilliantly by baritone saxophonist Jim Dejoie's rich tone in a series of deftly timed interpolations that had the effect of organ chords.

Knapp's writing revels in the cross-section ensemble work that is a hallmark of the Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn lineage perpetuated through Gil Evans, Maria Schneider and a select few others. For example: the lush low-range textures of a baritone saxophone and two trombones heard in "The Old World, and a very Ellingtonian combination of clarinet and two trombones. Within the sections there was a practically constant shifting of textures as well: two trumpets-flugelhorn; two flugelhorns-muted trumpet; clarinet-alto sax-tenor sax-baritone sax; clarinet-bass clarinet-alto sax-tenor sax; three tenor saxophones-baritone sax; flute-two clarinets; and clarinet-two flutes. Toward the beginning of "The Old World, the brass timbres were richly expressive, with muted trumpet and two flugelhorns a highlight, then later a combination of two trumpets and flugelhorn and, as the excitement built in the brisker portion in "four, three open trumpets kicking the dynamics up a notch or two as the sections were gradually layered behind Mark Taylor's stirring soprano saxophone solo.

Knapp's delightful arrangement of "Nanna's Lied by Kurt Weill was recorded on the Secular Breathing CD. His spoken introduction made note of the somewhat paradoxical juxtaposition of dark lyrics and bright melody in the original version, a song that is the reminiscences of a prostitute. The opening ensemble featuring clarinet and two trombones was creamy and luxuriant, and lead clarinetist Jim Dejoie was justly credited in Knapp's outro for his magnificent playing. There were also excellent solos from bassist Phil Sparks and pianist John Hansen.

Knapp's "Kumasi (the spelling here is only a guess) has a South African township feeling, strongly reminiscent of Abdullah Ibrahim's larger ensembles or Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath. There was a batch of exuberant solos on this piece. Mark Taylor on alto saxophone, Jay Thomas on trumpet, Jeff Hay on trombone and Adam Kessler on drums all had chances to shine, and shine they did, with Thomas and Hay sounding particularly well attuned to the ambiance of the composition. The latter's solo had a floating feel to it, as if he was hovering above the tempo, playing legato while the rest of the band locked into the groove. He also offered a wry Wizard of Oz quote: a snippet of "If I Only Had A Brain gliding by at one point.

"Palindrome for Rue, another Knapp original, had an impressionistic piano intro and a lengthy solo by Varner. His range and spot-on control of the instrument are breathtaking. But there's way more than faultless technique involved in Varner's mastery of the horn and the music. The breadth of stylistic references in his playing is remarkable, ranging from the quicksilver lines of bop through the full spectrum of contemporaneous jazz styles with an artistic vision that nudges the future while mining the past. Particularly cogent nods to the brass innovations of Don Cherry, credited by the hornist as a major influence on a number of occasions, often surface

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