WDR Big Band: Bluegrass

Violinist Darol Anger literally had a dream, one in which he was performing his bluegrass music not with the David Grisman Quintet or another small group but in front of a full-fledged big band—and in Germany, of all places. Even though it was a dream he thought would never come true, it was so vivid and tantalizing that Anger shared it with his longtime friend and musical colleague, mandolinist Mike Marshall, who agreed that it was rather far-fetched but nonetheless intriguing.

There are times, however, when, owing to wholly unsforeseen yet promising circumstances, even the most fanciful dreams can somehow become a reality, and Anger's, as it turns out, was one of them. After a series of improbable events that for reasons unknown aren't recounted in what was to evolve as the album Bluegrass, Anger and Marshall found themselves living the dream, rehearsing for a concert of bluegrass themes supported by Germany's world-class WDR Big Band with innovative arrangements by one of their musical heroes, saxophonist and WDR music director Bob Mintzer.

Aside from being a strong contender for the year's most misleading album title, Bluegrass, which seemed on its face to be a daring concept—combining traditional bluegrass music with contemporary big-band jazz—lands far short of its venturous premise. Chalk that up to Mintzer's impressive charts, the WDR Big Band's expertise, the earnestness and mastery shown by Anger and Marshall, or any rationale you can name. The fact is that Bluegrass stands proudly on its own not as an uncommon hybrid but as another conclusive example of the WDR's lofty and enviable position in the big-band stratosphere. That's not to impugn the input of Anger and Marshall, which is indispensable, but instead to note that they are but one component in a larger relationship, an equivalency that proves the spirit and language of bluegrass and jazz are more interrelated than many onlookers may have envisioned.

The interface unfolds from the outset, as Marshall's nimble mandolin helps usher in his own sunny composition, "Slip and Slide," while the ensemble hews firmly to its jazz wellspring, as does alto saxophonist Karolina Strassmayer, whose solo precedes Marshall's. An Irish/Scottish dialect infuses a medley of the traditional songs "Elzic's Farewell" and "Yew Piney Mountain," leaving room for stellar solos from soprano saxophonist Johan Horlen and trumpeter Ruud Breuls and breathtaking spins by Anger. A second traditional hymn, "Down in the Willow Garden," showcases Anger's warmer side and the embodies the first of several awesome solos by Mintzer, this one on tenor sax (he moves to EWI on his own fertile "Green Lawn," on which Anger also solos), leading to Anger's waltzing "Emy in the Woods" and Marshall's high-stepping and colorful finale, "Borealis," the nearest ingredient on the menu to unvarnished bluegrass.

Anger wrote the perky and powerful "Replace It All," wherein he unveils once more his amazing chops, as he does on Marshall's equally persuasive "In the Lion's Den," improvising with Marshall and tenor Paul Heller, and with Mintzer and pianist Billy Test on Marshall's folk song-slash-flag waver "Dexter," none of which would be out of place in any decent big-band library. Mintzer makes the EWI sound respectable there, as he does on his other solos with the uncommon horn. "Borealis" wraps the package neatly, as Marshall's mandolin and Anger's violin lead the way toward a strong and pleasing resolution and Mintzer adds another sharp and conclusive statement on the EWI.

The sunny and colorful Bluegrass earns high marks all around for concept, planning, performance—and especially for reminding music-lovers of every stripe that boundaries between genres are too often arbitrary and should not be used as an impediment to dampen the wishes of those who believe that music, in whatever form, is a universal idiom whose borders are only as limited as we choose to make them.

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