Greg Jasperse

Western Jazz Collective: Dark Journey: The Music of Andrew Rathbun

by Jack Bowers
March 7, 2025

The Western Jazz Collective is a seven-member co-op group that actually hails from America's Midwest--more specifically, Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo--where the ensemble's crew serve as members of the faculty. The designation “Western" thus refers to the university rather than the septet's geographic location. Be that as it may, what infuses and animates the Collective's debut album, Dark Journey, is the music, all of which was composed by the group's saxophonist-in-residence, Andrew Rathbun. There are nine songs ...