The Brian Martin Big Band: Old Home/New Home

Brian Martin, who as a working musician wears many hats—trombonist, composer, arranger, educator and band leader among them—has taken those hats from his native Iowa and given them a new mailing address in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. Which is a big deal. Big enough, at least, for Martin to have devoted much of Old Home/New Home, the Brian Martin Big Band's debut recording, to the ins and outs and ups and downs of leaving one's friendly confines to plant new roots, seek new adventures and face new challenges in a corner of the world that, while not entirely unknown to him, is nonetheless relatively unfamiliar and daunting.

For half a dozen years, starting in 2018, Martin led his mostly Iowa-stocked band through its paces in Des Moines. After relocating, he set about forming a new Boston-based ensemble to perform his typically luminous and pleasing compositions and arrangements. To lend him a hand, three of his fellow Iowans—lead trumpeter Antonio Garza, trombonist Dan Purscell and tenor saxophonist Nolan Schroeder—traveled east to take part in the band's initial recording date. Their presence helped enrich a session that was already on a path toward excellence, thanks to Martin's impressive skills as a writer and the band's ability to breathe life into his intriguing charts.

Trombones play a prominent role from start to finish, especially so on the powerful opening number, "Old Home," whose bold introduction by the 'bone section is punctuated by bass trombonist Leslie Havens' deep-throated licks. Schroeder and Purscell add perceptive solos before the trombones return to oversee an exhilarating coda. That leads to the sturdy, blues-based "Somewhere to Go," dedicated by Martin to his late mother, wherein pianist Joey Mazzarella, guitarist Owen Ross, trombonist Randy Pingrey, tenor Felipe Salles and drummer George Robinson share solo honors. Martin's introspective "Ballad for Myself" was written, he says, as a reflection of emotions induced by the Covid-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd.

The deeply-grooved "Lookin' Forward" (solos by Mazzarella on electric piano, Ross, Schroeder and trumpeter Haneef Nelson) precedes the album's lone vocal, by clear-voiced Grace McKay, on Martin's charming arrangement of the lovely standard "I Hear a Rhapsody." Martin unlimbers his lyrical trombone for a solo turn (with Nelson, alto Rick Stone, Robinson and percussionist Yahuba Garcia-Torres ) that introduces the stout and colorful "A.E.C.S." Alto Peter da Silva is showcased on the dreamy "Letters for Tom" (Giampietro, one of Martin's mentors), after which the band wraps the package, appropriately, with the trim and spacious "New Home," allowing ample space for engaging solos by Robinson, trumpeter Eric Smith and baritone Nick Biagini.

Old Home/New Home marks a handsome and exhilarating debut for Martin and his now New England-based Big Band. While Martin may harbor no plans to move again soon, based on what he has accomplished in the wake of this first one, that may not be such a bad idea.

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