Album review: Marshall Gilkes and the WDR Big Band - LifeSongs

LifeSongs is Marshall Gilke's third collaboration as leader with the acclaimed WDR Big Band. The trombonist is no stranger to Germany having spent four years in Cologne working in the ranks of the band. Composer-arranger-conductor-soloist Gilkes reunites once more with his former bandmates to present an album spanning some seventy four minutes. Nine tracks*, seven composed and arranged by Gilkes, alongside All the Pretty Little Horses (traditional) and This Nearly Was Mine (Rodgers and Hammerstein II).

As the album came together Gilkes made the observation: I realized that a lot of the themes for these pieces relate directly to life and what's going on in the world these days. The listener could be forgiven in anticipating a doom-laden exercise. Surprisingly, LifeSongs opens in upbeat fashion with Fresh Start (perhaps referencing a post-lockdown sense of optimism). Gilkes' classy trombone playing sets the tone and for the best part of an hour and a quarter the album bristles with top class ensemble work and a plethora of stunning solo contributions from within the WDR's ranks.

The soloists...variously Johan Hörlén (alto sax, Back in the Groove and All the Pretty Little Horses), Billy Test (piano, Back in the Groove, My Unanswered Prayer and All the Pretty Little Horses), the 'bones of Ludwig Nuss, Raphael Klemm, Andy Hunter and one M. Gilkes on Middle Ground (four 'bones, the album is, after all, Gilkes' project!), Andy Haderer's mellifluous flugelhorn on This Nearly Was Mine, all, without exception, are stellar performers. Gilkes himself shines on Cora's Tune, the composer's brass arrangement could work well in British brass band circles. 

The ensemble's precision playing is no better demonstrated than on Sin Filtro, a Balkan-Spanish dot-reading delight/nightmare. Make that 'delight', the WDR Big Band is more than up to the mark! The listener familiar with the work of the WDR shouldn't hesitate acquiring a copy of Marshall Gilkes' LifeSongs. Russell.                                  

Track listing: Fresh Start; Back in the Groove; Cora's Tune; My Unanswered Prayer; All the Pretty Little Horses; Middle Ground; Sin Filtro; This Nearly Was Mine; Sugar Rush.

* the digital release includes two bonus tracks.

Marshall Gilkes (arranger, conductor, trombone); Johan Hörlén; Pascal Bartoszak; Ben Fitzpatrick; Paul Heller; Jens Neufang (reeds); Andy Haderer; Wim Both; Rob Bruynen; Ruud Breuls (trumpet, flugelhorn); Ludwig Nuss; Raphael Klemm; Peter Hedrich + Andy Hunter track 6 (trombone); Mattis Cederberg (bass trombone, tuba); Billy Test (piano); John Goldsby (bass); Hans Dekker (drums); Sabeth Pérez (vocals)

LifeSongs by Marshall Gilkes and the WDR Big Band is available from Alternate Side Records (ASR017).