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Warriors of the Wonderful Sound: Soundpath
ByZankel's big band had previously performed compositions by Julius Hemphill, Rudresh Mahanthappa, and Steve Coleman, so Abrams' music was a perfect fit. Abrams agreed to write music for a premier in 2012. With the composer in attendance, it was a success, by all accounts. Listeners would hear Abrams and other AACM artists perform at the 2013 Chicago Jazz Festival, captured as Jack DeJohnette's Made In Chicago (ECM, 2015) with Roscoe Mitchell, Larry Gray and Henry Threadgill. This recording is mentioned because Abrams would pass away in 2017 at the age of 87.
Zankel reassembled The Warriors Of The Wonderful Sound to perform "Soundpath" again in 2018 as part of Philadelphia's October Revolution festival with an expanded lineup of 17 musicians, which included the organizational and conduction skills of Marty Ehrlich. Besides being a music scholar and keeper of the flame for Julius Hemphill's music, Ehrlich had previously performed in Abrams' octet and orchestras. This studio recording was made a day after the festival performance and is a magnificent and flawless document. Abrams' detailed score is both dense, and light as a feather. Solos are spread throughout, but seemingly without a pause in the progression of the single 40- minute piece. This is orchestral music, but also swinging jazz presented as a seamless whole.
Track Listing
Soundpath: One track for entire composition.
Personnel
Warriors of the Wonderful Sound
band / ensemble / orchestraMarty Ehrlich
woodwindsBobby Zankel
saxophone, altoJulian Pressley
saxophone, altoRobert DeBellis
saxophone, tenorHafez Modirzadeh
saxophone, tenorMark Allen
saxophone, baritoneDave Ballou
trumpetDuane Eubanks
trumpetGraham Haynes
cornetJosh Evans
trumpetSteve Swell
tromboneMichael Dessen
tromboneAlfred Patterson
tromboneJose Davila
tubaMichael Formanek
bass, acousticTom Lawton
pianoChad Taylor
drumsAlbum information
Title: Soundpath | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Clean Feed Records
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About Warriors of the Wonderful Sound
Instrument: Band / ensemble / orchestra
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