The Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra: Mixed Bag

Award-winning arranger Pete McGuinness has chosen to name the fourth recording by his stellar New York-based Jazz Orchestra Mixed Bag, a term whose meaning may be construed as positive or less so, depending on the context. As he explains in the album's liner notes, McGuinness accentuates the positive, writing that to him, "Variety has always been the spice of life. I don't like the feeling of being pigeon-holed into a certain bag...For this project...I've included many 'bags' that I love to write music in, and am lucky to have a band that can pull each [one] off in a convincing musical fashion."

With that in mind, McGuinness has blended a quartet of his impressive original compositions with four treasures from the Great American Songbook, enduring jazz standards by John Lewis and Thelonious Monk, and another fresh theme, "Rebecca," by one of the orchestra's trumpeters, Chris Rogers. McGuinness, who several years ago lost his ability to play trombone owing to the rare but disabling condition embouchure dystonia (involuntary muscle cramps and spasms), arranged every theme and sings on three, including Cole Porter's "From This Moment On" and "So in Love."

McGuinness not only sings but comes out scatting on the buoyant opening number, "From This Moment On," setting a compass for the ten superb numbers yet to come. "Rebecca" is next, a lyrical bonbon tethered to a Latin beat on which the composer's eloquent trumpet is showcased, followed by three of McGuinness' admirable tunes: "The Dark Hours," "Lilac Blues" and the sinuous "Down the Rabbit Hole." Tenor saxophonist Tom Christensen (who also solos on "Rebecca") holds court on "Hours," pianist Mike Holober and bassist Mark Wade on "Lilac," Rogers and tenor Rob Middleton on "Rabbit Hole." Johnny Green's amorous "Body and Soul," tread at a pleasing medium tempo and embracing a handsome solo by trumpeter Bud Burridge, leads to McGuinness' second vocal, on "So in Love."

Alto Mark Phaneuf is showcased on Lewis' melodic "Django" (animated by seductive time changes), baritone Dave Riekenberg on Monk's well-traveled "'Round Midnight." Despite the flood of pleasure that has come before it, McGuinness' fourth and final composition, "The Sly Fox," a dazzling and clever tribute to the peerless arranger Bill Holman, is arguably the album's zenith, as McGuinness pays his debt to a greatly admired role model with a marvelous arrangement that charms and amuses, Holman-style. When it comes to mirroring the master, McGuinness clearly invokes Holman's image. And while that's a tough act to follow, McGuinness does the best he can by enlisting a string section (with Holober conducting) and singing on the album's emotional finale, "Where Do You Start?" Nice try, Pete, but it serves by and large as a reminder of how greatly your trombone is missed.

That is not a complaint, merely an observation. When all is said and done, Mixed Bag offers no perceptible cause for censure, as nothing on the album is less than commendable—and that includes McGuinness' vocals, even though he is far removed from, say, Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett. He is simply doing what he can with what he has. And one of the things he has is a marvelous orchestra playing charismatic charts, all of them his. While jazz has undergone countless changes since bop was king, many longtime fans would no doubt agree that this is the way big bands are supposed to sound.