Jon De Lucia: The Brubeck Octet Project

Having formed his jazz octet in 2016 for a project at City College of New York, where he was then teaching, Brooklyn-based alto saxophonist Jon De Lucia had to find new music to keep it going—a search that led him to the archives at Mills College, which housed many of Dave Brubeck's original handwritten charts among the papers of the octet's tenor saxophonist and arranger, Dave Van Kriedt.

Eight years later, after extensive research, much hard work and diligent rewriting, and with help from CCNY and the Van Kriedt family, De Lucia was able to lead the octet into a studio to record The Brubeck Octet Project, an ardent look back at one of the most resourceful and admired West Coast ensembles of the mid-twentieth century and beyond. Using arrangements by Brubeck, Van Kriedt and baritone saxophonist Bill Smith as his bedrock, De Lucia wrote new intros and backgrounds for each chart and expanded solo space, giving his artists more room to improvise.

Brubeck wrote the brief opening, "Curtain Music," and the "Closing Theme," while Van Kriedt penned the serpentine "Fugue on Bop Themes" and sensuous "Prelude," Smith the animated "IPCA" to chaperone the well-known standards "Love Walked In," "Let's Fall in Love," "September in the Rain," "I Hear a Rhapsody," "The Way You Look Tonight" (arranged by Brubeck), "What Is This Thing Called Love" and "Love Me or Leave Me." Even though renewed almost from the ground up, most of these sturdy charts elicit the spirit and charm that made the Brubeck octets so successful and popular. A large measure of that achievement rests with De Lucia, the rest with his nimble and talented colleagues who make every phrase come alive and every building block shine.

Acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Scott Robinson, who plays only tenor sax on this session, solos with his usual elegance and perception, while trumpeter Brandon Lee, trombonist Becca Patterson, clarinetist/baritone saxophonist Jay Rattman, pianist Glenn Zaleski and De Lucia himself (on alto sax) more than carry their weight whenever asked to do so. As for the rhythm, it is in the capable hands of Zaleski, bassist Daniel Duke and drummer Keith Balla . As with Brubeck's seminal octet, no chart, however chaotic or elaborate, is beyond their reach, and every one is treated with awareness and respect.

Thanks to the mastery of De Lucia and the others, The Brubeck Octet Project is far more than a pleasant trip down memory lane; it stands on its own as an impressive cross-section of contemporary small-group jazz at its zenith.

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