On a recent Friday evening in the trendy Brooklyn neighborhood of Dumbo, a line snaked around the corner of the Galapagos Art Space and buzz swirled about Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, one of the leading new big bands in jazz. Two weeks earlier, across the river in SoHo, a line full of excited patrons formed outside the Jazz Gallery to hear saxophonist David Binney present music for an 18-piece band that was commissioned by the venue. In late March, a crowd dotted with jazz luminaries filled Tea Lounge in Brooklyn's Park Slope to hear guitarist Chris Jentsch's big band, Jentsch Group Large.
Not since shortly after the end of World War II have big bands created such a stir. However, the bands back then typically played in elegant ballrooms with an audience full of dancers who waltzed, foxtrotted and jitterbugged the evening away, and their music was the vernacular of the day. Now big bands play in austere multipurpose art spaces and cafs, and their audience is a mix of jazz aficionados, musicians, classical-music fans and other sonic omnivores. The music is dense and richly textured, with elements of the classic jazz big bands blended with contemporary classical music and numerous overtones of rock and electronic music.
Dale Fitzgerald, owner of the Jazz Gallery, a venue that commissions work for large ensembles by up-and-coming musicians, said “the best of the youngest generation of big bands are able to take on such a surging, sprawling range of musical traditions and make music of them."
Mr. Argue, 33, became fascinated with big-band writing during his graduate studies at the New England Conservatory of Music, where there was a student big band devoted to student works. “This was pretty much the best thing ever," he said. “A lot younger composers never really learn to write for large ensembles because the work-reward ratio is so awful. You slave away for weeks trying to assemble a few fleeting minutes of music, and then you're lucky if it gets played once -- badly."
At the conservatory, Mr. Argue was able to write regularly for a big band. After graduation, he began writing for the BMI Composers Workshop, where he received feedback from leading musicians. He credits the influence of Maria Schneider, a renowned jazz composer and big-band leader, for inspiring his career choice.
“I heard 'Wyrgly' from her first album, 'Evanescence,' and that was it," he said. “Everyone who heard it ["Evanescence"] started a big band; I know I'm not the only one."
Not since shortly after the end of World War II have big bands created such a stir. However, the bands back then typically played in elegant ballrooms with an audience full of dancers who waltzed, foxtrotted and jitterbugged the evening away, and their music was the vernacular of the day. Now big bands play in austere multipurpose art spaces and cafs, and their audience is a mix of jazz aficionados, musicians, classical-music fans and other sonic omnivores. The music is dense and richly textured, with elements of the classic jazz big bands blended with contemporary classical music and numerous overtones of rock and electronic music.
Dale Fitzgerald, owner of the Jazz Gallery, a venue that commissions work for large ensembles by up-and-coming musicians, said “the best of the youngest generation of big bands are able to take on such a surging, sprawling range of musical traditions and make music of them."
Mr. Argue, 33, became fascinated with big-band writing during his graduate studies at the New England Conservatory of Music, where there was a student big band devoted to student works. “This was pretty much the best thing ever," he said. “A lot younger composers never really learn to write for large ensembles because the work-reward ratio is so awful. You slave away for weeks trying to assemble a few fleeting minutes of music, and then you're lucky if it gets played once -- badly."
At the conservatory, Mr. Argue was able to write regularly for a big band. After graduation, he began writing for the BMI Composers Workshop, where he received feedback from leading musicians. He credits the influence of Maria Schneider, a renowned jazz composer and big-band leader, for inspiring his career choice.
“I heard 'Wyrgly' from her first album, 'Evanescence,' and that was it," he said. “Everyone who heard it ["Evanescence"] started a big band; I know I'm not the only one."
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