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Mike Fahie Jazz Orchestra: Urban(e)
by Jack Bowers
Most Western music, irrespective of its origin and premise, inhabits the same harmonic, chordal and rhythmic universe. So it should not be surprising that classical music, in the hands of a skilled arranger, can be readily recast in a jazz idiom, even one that is housed within a big-band framework. On Urban(e), trombonist Mike Fahie's New York-based Jazz Orchestra braves that challenge, quickening Fahie's translations of works by Frederic Chopin, Igor Stravinsky, Claude Debussy, Bela Bartok, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and ...
Continue ReadingRemy Le Boeuf: Assembly Of Shadows
by Glenn Astarita
With his second date as a leader, multi-woodwind artist Remy Le Boeuf performs these largely self-penned comps with an orchestra, featuring notable musicians Anna Webber (woodwinds), Alex Goodman (guitar) and other jazz VIPs. Here, the leader's composing acuity brims with multicolored hues and harmonious arrangements, largely executed with a composite of modern jazz and classical inferences via gradual buildups, brash outbreaks and complex unison choruses that occasionally mimic single note bop lines. Sure enough, this young visionary's unflagging creative spirit ...
Continue ReadingRemy Le Boeuf: Assembly Of Shadows
by Dan McClenaghan
Remy Le Boeuf's Assembly Of Shadows, an ambitious jazz orchestra recording, opens with his original composition, the cinematic “Strata," followed by a majestic take on alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman's “Honeymooners," a tune from the free jazz pioneer's Virgin Beauty (Portrait Records, 1988). These sounds--collectively clocking in at fifteen and a half minutes--set the stage for the five-part “Assembly Of Shadows Suite." Saxophonist Le Bouef considered the voices in his orchestra for the purposes of highlighting the individual musical personalities, a ...
Continue ReadingJennifer Wharton: Bonegasm
by Angelo Leonardi
Esattamente sessant'anni fa Melba Liston incideva Melba Liston and Her Bones, presentando due ensemble con ognuno quattro tromboni più ritmica. Quel disco dimenticato della grande trombonista è un antecedente significativo di quanto fa oggi Jennifer Wharton. È ovviamente improprio stabilire connessioni con un'opera così lontana nel tempo ma sul versante della ricchezza espressiva, melodica e ritmica abbiamo somiglianze. Piacerà molto agli amanti del trombone Bonegasm ma l'album non è per specialisti: è invece un lavoro brioso e variopinto, che coinvolge ...
Continue ReadingJennifer Wharton's Bonegasm: Bonegasm
by Dan Bilawsky
The bass trombone occupies a unique niche, serving as that most powerful of pedal peddlers, the anchor of a big band's brass section, and the ballast stabilizing harmonies. Unfortunately, the instrument also holds status as a seriously pigeonholed force. While you can't argue with the usefulness of its robust, below-the-staff whole notes, this horn is made for more than heft. Jennifer Wharton, one of its finest practitioners, has been hip to that fact for some time, having held down the ...
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