Rodger Fox Big Band: You Gotta Know

As trombonist Rodger Fox's superb New Zealand-based big band thunders toward its golden anniversary in 2023, the recordings keep coming. Here are two more, the first (Live) taped in October 2020 during what must have been a much longer concert at the Bruce Mason Centre in Auckland; the second, You Gotta Know, recorded that same year in Brooklyn, New York, following the band's appearance at the Jazz Education Network conference in New Orleans. The concert date features guest pianist Michael Houstoun, and its rather brief half-hour playing time includes a "bonus" track, "I Wish You Love," showcasing the ensemble's longtime vocalist, Erna Ferry, backed by a quintet led by Fox and Houstoun. The studio date in Brooklyn encompasses nine selections and runs for twenty minutes longer than the Auckland concert.

In spite of their differences, the albums share one indispensable trait: Fox's formidable band blowing through a series of radiant charts that seem made to order for its animated and powerful approach to the task at hand. In Auckland, three of the four arrangements (and one composition) are by pianist Bill Cunliffe, a close friend of the band and sometime collaborator. The Auckland opener, Gino Vannelli's picturesque "Storm at Sunup," so closely resembles the standard "You Don't Know What Love Is" that it's almost like hearing another arrangement of the Don Raye/Gene DePaul classic. Purely unintentional, it must be assumed. The tempo quickens midstream to accommodate ardent solos by Houstoun, Fox and trumpeter James Guilford. Cunliffe's irrepressible "Warriors" is next, spotlighting Houstoun and electric keyboardist Anita Schwabe, after which Vannelli's assertive "Brother to Brother" closes the instrumental section behind sharp ensemble work and solos to match by Houstoun, tenor Oscar Laven, trumpeter Jack Harre and drummer Lance Philip.

The band's Brooklyn date embodies nine original compositions, six instrumental, with Ferry adding her voice on the others. Three appear to have been written by members of the band: "New Tune" by bassist Rory Macartney; "Eat This" by trumpeter Mike Booth; and "No Doctor Required" by trombonist Christopher Fox. The carefree and swinging finale, "Sonny's Step," was composed and arranged by Grammy Award-winning pianist Alan Broadbent, a New Zealand native who has been living in the U.S for many years. Macartney's sturdy "New Tune" leads off, using muscular solos by tenor Laven and baritone Wilson and vigorous timekeeping by Philip to set the stage for Booth's bright and appetizing "Eat This" (solos by Booth, Schwabe, Rodger Fox and alto Bryn van Vliet) and a pair of charmers by Callum Allardice ("The Disease," "Velvet Dreams Assured"). Tenor Louisa Williamson, trumpeter Ben Hunt and trombonist Kaito Walley solo on "The Disease," Wilson, Hunt and Schwabe on "Velvet Dreams." Ferry joins the band for the next three numbers: "Carry My Blues Away," "Sensitive to a Smile" and "You Gotta Know," doubling on harmonica on the first of them. Christopher Fox's well-grooved "No Doctor Required" includes engaging turns by trumpeter Guilford and alto Frank Talbot, while Schwabe, Hunt, Laven and Philip are the bright-eyed soloists on "Sonny's Step."

Even though concise, Live generates the sort of excitement only an in-concert performance can, while You Gotta Know may lack the spontaneity and spirit of a live date but does present the Rodger Fox band at its roaring best.

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