David Sanford Big Band

Almost 75 years after the demise of the so-called Big Band era, cultivated musicians still seek out the configuration to expand the number of sound colors they can utilize. So it is with this session, coming out of left field by David Sanford, long-time music professor at Massachusetts’ Mount Holyoke College, who composes both Jazz and notated music. A Prayer for Lester Bowie is strictly Jazz however. Built around the composer’s protracted homage to the late trumpeter (1941-1999), an AACM member and co-founder of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the disc also includes a half dozen other Sanford originals and a speedy reading of “Dizzy Atmosphere”.

Creating a framework for 20 plus players interpreting his compositions, Sanford writes sequences that bring forward post-Free Music interpolations as well as expected big band tropes. One could imagine echoes of both Maynard Ferguson’s and Anthony Braxton’s big band creations in these pieces. So it’s appropriate that the major soloist on the title tune, who also contributes to other tracks as well, is trumpeter Hugh Ragin, who was a member both those orchestras\\ bands. In truth the sky high uber-brassy Ferguson inflections are mostly expressed on tracks such as the concluding “V-Reel”, with its group roller coast-like lurches that pull back for alto saxophonist Ted Levine’s hard bites and backbeat pops from percussionists Mark Raynes and Theo Moore; the trumpet chase on “Dizzy Atmosphere”; and Ragin’s allegrissimo tour-de-force on “popit” where his shattering cries move at such an elevated pitch that they could have been played on a piccolo trumpet. Other pieces are duskier and rife with pastels. “Subtraf” for instance layers Mike Christianson’s muted trombone burbles with Dave Fabris’ single string flanges and works both into a call-and-response motif as the nine other brass players back them with warm and slow-moving riffs

Most crucial are the explosive, introductory “Full Immersion” and the title tune. As screaming brass heights and shaking drum backbeats erupt around them on the first piece trombonist Jim Messbauer stretches his slurping plunger tones while tenor saxophonists Anna Webber and Geoff Vidal snarl and growl split tones to dent the inflating polyphony erupting around them. A celebration not a dirge, “A Prayer for Lester Bowie”: is where Ragin projects numerous triplets at elevated pitches without breaking tonal motion. As his bugling note shards establish themselves, tick-tock percussion, Dave Phillips’ walking bass and brass and reed low pitches move the piece along horizontally and at a moderate pace. Reaching a climax after his plunger muted solo advances to flutter tonguing, Ragin helps complete the musical portrait by adding these soothing textures to a non-funeral procession-like line borne on subterranean tuba and bass trombone blasts.

A labor of love and identity, this disc should confirm that certain notable composers toil in other places than the traditional Jazz centres.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Full Immersion^ 2. Subtraf^ 3. Woman in Shadows+ 4. Popit 5. A Prayer for Lester Bowie+# 6. Dizzy Atmosphere 7. Soldier and the CEO^ 8. V-Reel^*

Personnel: Brad Goode (tracks 1-7), Tony Kadleck*, Tim Leopold, Wayne J. du Maine,

Thomas Bergeron, Hugh Ragin (trumpet); Mike Christianson, Jim Messbauer, Ben Herrington (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6-8), Mike Seltzer+ (trombone); Steven Gehring (bass trombone); Raymond Stewart (tuba); Ted Levine, Kelley Hart-Jenkins (alto saxophone); Anna Webber^ , Marc Phaneuf& (tracks 3-6), Geoff Vidal (tenor saxophone); Brad Hubbard (baritone saxophone); Geoff Burleson (piano); Dave Fabris (guitar); Dave Phillips (bass. electric bass); Mark Raynes (drums); Theo Moore (percussion); David Sanford (all tracks but 5); Hugh Ragin# (conductor)