Russ Anixter's Hippie Big Band: What Next?

A big band by any other name...

Arranger and orchestrator Russ Anixter has chosen to call his 11-piece ensemble the Hippie Big Band. Which is fine, Russ. Whatever works for you.

Alas, much of the music on What Next? sounds as though it could have been imported from the mid- 20th century. Yes, this is unquestionably jazz even though it does lean rather heavily on rock, funk and even some free improvisation as its bedrock; and yes, there are respectable solos along the way—but hardly enough to eclipse Anixter's vision of a big band on the cutting edge of avant-garde. There are a number of top-notch musicians in the band who unravel what he delivers to their music stands. What can be affirmed with confidence is that these charts could not be performed with more intensity or commitment.

A hippie band is almost obliged to lead with The Beatles, and so What Next? opens with John Lennon and Paul McCartney's "I Saw Her Standing There," which pretty much sets the compass for the album as a whole: funky rhythms, emphatic drums, forthright brass and reeds, and solos delivered in this instance by guitarist Michael Aarons and vibraphonist Bill Hayes. Curtis Mayfield's "Freddie's Dead" serves up more of the same, this time with Frank Vacin's deep-throated baritone sax taking solo honors.

Dr. John's "I Walk on Guilded Splinters" finds brass and reeds out front and wailing again, after which Jeff Beck's trotting "Freeway Jam" enwraps another solo by Aarons and the Grateful Dead's "Shakedown Street" continues the band's slide toward fusion, abetted by Matt Hong on alto sax, Matt Owens on electrified trumpet and Stan Harrison on tenor sax.

A change of pace arrives on Weather Report's decorous "A Remark You Made," a welcome vehicle for Hong and trombonist Dan Levine. The funk and fusion resume on Gene McDaniels' "Compared to What," which leads to the finale, which uneasily combines Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter" with Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew."

What Next? should please jazz enthusiasts who have discerned and embraced its recent expansion from rock to funk, free to Afro-Cuban, Third Stream to soul jazz and jazz-rap, and so on. While each one has its place in the broader jazz universe, fans of more traditional forms of the music would be well-advised to look elsewhere.