(Review by Russell).
JC Sanford is a co-founder of the
composer’s federation, Pulse, with Darcy James Argue and Joseph C. Phillips.
Living and working in Brooklyn, Sanford
has NYC’s Downtown scene on his doorstep. His sixteen piece ensemble comprises
musicians from the spheres of classical music and contemporary jazz. The writing
embraces French impressionism, a cinematic sweep across a 20th/21st century North
American landscape (the 1925 silent film Ben
Hur to subversive, unsettling quasi-nursery rhymes) to big band jazz
post-Gil Evans to the jazz of today.
An Attempt at Serenity, the first of twelve tracks, opens with a brief section of Buddhist
recitations, giving way to the string players (variously serene, then taut) and
percussion. Five of the tracks refer specifically to Brooklyn – 2nd & 7th (Brooklyn Vignette #5) and Verrazano Bikeride (Brooklyn Vignette #3) in particular succeed in
evoking the sights and sounds of the borough – and two lengthy compositions vie
for the soul of the album – the title track Views
From the Inside and Sky Good. The
CD liner notes suggest the former is “A
15plus- minute journey through beauty, dissonance, and everything in between.
Positively epic…”. The latter piece features the tenor sax of Chris Bacas
and is perhaps the jazz track of the
album.
The ensemble playing is of the
highest quality, Sanford ’s
writing always interesting and with fellow travellers such as the critically
acclaimed Darcy James Argue, the future of the big band –jazz or other – makes
for interesting times. The JC Sanford
Orchestra’s Views From the Inside is released on Monday 19 May 2014 on
Michael Janisch’s Whirlwind Recordings –
WR4652.
JC Sanford (composer, conductor & trombone), Satoshi Takeishi (percussion), Jacob Garchik (accordion), Tom Beckham (vibraphone), Meg Okura (violin & electronics), Will Martina (cello & electronics), Aidan O’Donnell (acoustic bass), Dan Willis (oboe, piccolo, flute & soprano saxophone), Ben Kono (English horn, bass clarinet, clarinet, flute & alto saxophone), Chris Bacas (clarinet, soprano & tenor saxophones), Kenny Berger (contra-alto saxophone, bassoon & alto flute), Taylor Haskins (trumpet, flugelhorn & harmonizer), Matt Holman (trumpet & flugelhorn), Mark Patterson (tenor trombone), Jeff Nelson (tuba & bass trombone), Chris Komer (French horn), Asuka Kakitani (conductor - tracks 6 & 12)
Russell.
No comments :
Post a Comment