Jeff Lederer: There's a Yearnin'

Jazz and classical music have been intersecting for decades. One of the most prominent examples of this was the Third Stream movement of the sixties, where composers and musicians like Gunther Schuller and John Lewis encouraged the efforts of jazz musicians who wanted to experiment in the world of classical music. The music created through the movement is little heard today, but Jeff Lederer has here assembled a selection of works from that period by Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy and Oliver Nelson and arranged them for performance by a woodwind group, the Wildebeest Quintet, joined by Lederer himself on reeds and Mary LaRose on vocals. 

The music captured here goes in different directions that reflect tendencies the various composers show in their jazz work.  The Dolphy piece, a newly discovered section of a woodwind sextet, features flute, played by Michel Gentile, lyrically dancing over a brooding background. The three Coleman "Forms and Sounds" pieces have constantly active and playful motions with notes bouncing from one instrument to another, setting the stage for lively improvisations by bassoon, alto sax, and clarinet. Lederer himself does the alto honors on "Movement 2," playing with a bluesy wail that ties the music back to Coleman's jazz innovations.

Oliver Nelson's compositions stay the closest to jazz. They have harmonized, flowing melodies with slight off-center twists, enhanced by LaRose's low-pitched, expressive singing. Her voice creeps like a slow mist over songs like "Nocturne" and "There's A Yearnin,'" enhancing their feelings of despair and longing while her playful mugging on "Three Seconds" fits right into that song's quirky whimsy. 

Lederer adds to all this by bringing in his own composition, "Cruxifiction (not a word)," which is scored for the quintet, electronics and clarinet. Inspired by a performance by the great singer and civil rights activist Marian Anderson, the work has a sense of foreboding and danger in its heavy and dark chords that feels appropriate for the current political climate in America. If the other music here represents openness, risk and freedom, this piece is a warning about darker clouds on the horizon.   

Overall this album is a revelatory look at the broader abilities of some familiar musical legends. Jeff Lederer has done us all a service in bringing this surprising and intriguing work to light.