Zhengtao Pan Jazz Orchestra: Scenery in My Story

Zhengtao Pan, born in Shanghai, China, less than twenty-five years ago, was already well-known as a designer of video games when he chose to move to Boston, MA, to study jazz composition at the Berklee College of Music. Scenery In My Story is Pan's debut recording as leader of his Jazz Orchestra, and as its title suggests, the music is personal and thematic, tracing in solicitous terms Pan's impactful voyage from Shanghai to Boston.

Intimate, yes, but do not let the concept bother you. Once past that, the album is much the same as many similar enterprises that use the author's life experiences as a springboard from which to define his or her portrayal of contemporary jazz. What matters most is the swing quotient, and whether Pan can translate his vision into the kind of big-band blueprint that listeners who are well-versed in its framework and complexity might grasp and appreciate. Luckily, Pan and his able orchestra earn high marks in both categories, as the ensemble lends warmth and vitality to his largely colorful and charming compositions and arrangements.

Pan starts his voyage with the zephyr-like "Windy Days," which, he writes, are reminiscent of both Shanghai and Boston. Its gentle breezes are driven skyward by flutist Itai Kriss. The melodic "Hometown" could also allude to either city, as Pan left one to live and work in the other. The soloists are trombonist Bob Pilkington and trumpeter Nick Frenay. There is no misreading the plainspoken "City Machine," whose muscular rhythms and robust solos signal his arrival in Boston. Once there, Pan is charmed by the struggle of a woman who longs to be a dancer even in the face of a serious leg injury and is "Dancing In the Dream" with help from the orchestra and soloists Walter Smith III (tenor sax) and Isamu McGregor (piano).

The album's lone standard, Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen's "It Could Happen to You," is given a complete makeover, its themes of love and romance upended and replaced by Pan's nod to Covid and other maladies, which "could happen to you." Solo duties are in the capable hands of alto Andrew Gould. Benny Benack III is the vocalist on "Liar," whose design is pleasing but whose lyrics are indecipherable. The easygoing "Mirror, Floating on the Water" leads to the strident yet somber "On That Bus," written as a response to a bus accident in which several people died. Gould and trombonist Massimo Morganti solo on "Mirror," baritone Manuel Trabucco and guitarist Chen Wang on "Bus."

Miles Davis wrote the jazz standard "Nardis," which moves briskly along behind a trim solo by Trabucco (on tenor). Pan then returns to his native land for the robust and animated "Nightfall Over Shanghai," leading to a charming and picturesque summary, "Scenery in My Story." Guitarist Men Di is showcased on "Nightfall," McGregor and drummer Ross Pederson on "Scenery."

Appraised as a whole, Scenery in My Story proves that Pan has come a long way in a few short years as a composer and arranger; what is even more promising is that he still has a long way to go.