Tracy Yang: OR

Darcy James Argue and Maria Schneider have produced music in recent years that is setting new parameters. They have broadened the scope of jazz by mining inspiration from unlikely sources: Argue finds inspiration in politics and conspiracy theories; Schneider looked at the data world, both artists revivifying the large jazz orchestra. A new name can be added: Tracy Yang. Yang has her own preoccupations: music, photography and ecology.

Yang's story has many intriguing aspects. To abandon a career in medicine and to move to the United States from Taiwan in 2013 to write music, to embed herself in New York's musical life and to gather musicians around her so that she furthers her musical visions is an achievement.

Yang is obviously entrepreneurial. She has garnered grants and prizes from numerous organisations: New Music USA, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and Pathways to Jazz. She has worked with the Army Jazz Ambassadors, BMI/New York Jazz Orchestra, Seattle Women's Jazz Orchestra and the Taipei Jazz Orchestra. In addition to her musical achievements, her restless mind takes her to the world of dance, where she collaborates with dance institutions, including Martha Graham, American Ballet Theatre, Paul Taylor, José Limón, Mark Morris and the Juilliard School. She has studied herself, composing, playing and exploring photography and multidisciplinary art.

"OR," the title cut, llustrates the fluency of Yang's orchestral writing. The inspiration is from her medical career. There are times throughout the album when one hears effortlessly-spun potent melodies. The fluency could well prove to be a trap. The beauty of the writing and the lyricism blends Jim O'Connor's trumpet into the piece.

"Uncertainty'' has a completely different rhythm. The trombone of Alan Ferber is wayward and searching. Underneath, the commanding bass of Matt Clohesy holds the complex arrangement together. The saxophones have all the grace of a Francy Boland quintet, ushering the music back to security.

"Healing'' is a Yang melody that spins out across the orchestra. The counterpoint moves from section to section, skillfully avoiding a clichéd resolution.

"The Sea of Clouds" has a quiet grandeur before the drums introduce a potent melody. The long line of the melody is transferred to the tenor of Ben Kono, who has a fluency that harmonises well with the score.

The highlight of the album is in the opening moments of "Melting Arctic." To situate the violence of seismic events successfully into the confines the jazz orchestra is an achievement. It is a pity that the force of the opening is not sustained when the soloists are introduced. The cool glowing trumpet soars over the glacial figures and powers the way with an effortless melody to introduce Dave Prieto over the bass from Clohesy.

Throughout the album, melodies flow with an internal logic and a clear tensile strength that is strong enough to bear the solos. The album is a collection of engaging tone poems with pungent orchestral writing for brass, especially trombones. The virtuosity of the writing demands and receives similar virtuosity from the players.

This is an album from an eloquent new voice that has much to say.

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