Florian Ross: Tunes & Explorations

Variety and nostalgia are the essence of Tunes & Explorations, the twenty-second album by German-born composer/arranger Florian Ross who observes his fiftieth anniversary by dipping into the Great American Songbook to revive and reshape for his splendid octet a number of luminous evergreens from the Golden Age of American music.

Ross underlines the contrast via jazz compositions from Bill Evans ("Fun Ride") and Horace Silver (the closing "Sister Sadie") and his own groovy curtain-raiser, "Baking Magels." The rest is all GAS, starting with a tasteful arrangement of Johnny Burke/Jimmy Van Heusen's enchanting "It Could Happen to You," featuring Canadian trombonist Craig Brenan with pianist Leon Hattori and Austrian trumpeter Bastian Stein. Hattori, bassist Dietmar Fuhr, drummer Tobias Backhaus and baritone saxophonist Niels Klein are the only members of the ensemble from Gemany.

Klein's bass clarinet leads the way on Ross's sweet and lovely arrangement of "Sweet and Lovely," with other solos by Hattori, Irish tenor saxophonist Matthew Halpin and Belgian guitarist Eliott Knuets who is showcased with Hattori on "Baking Magels." Stein's muted trumpet is front and center on Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose," preceding a muscular tenor solo by Halpin and persuasive drumming by Backhaus. Stephen Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns" is lush and mellow, Jerome Kern's "Long Ago and Far Away" a fast-paced excursion for the ensemble with solos by Stein, Hattori and Knuets.

"If I Should Lose You," punctuated by Hattori's dancing piano, leads to the dreamy "Pure Imagination" (from the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), featuring Stein's expressive trumpet, and Evans' cheerful "Fun Ride" (splendid solo by Knuets). Halpin and Brenan share the spotlight on a blues-rhumba version of "Sweet and Lovely," while Klein's resonant baritone is most conspicuous on Silver's high-spirited "Sister Sadie."

An admirable session, underscored by Ross's clever charts, emphatic blowing by the ensemble, and an exemplary choice of material. Deposit it in the "well done" file.