Duke Ellington famously insisted that he never wrote music
for instruments, but tailored each piece for the particular individuals in his
band. After nearly ten years together with a remarkably stable line-up
featuring some of the most gifted musicians on the New York City jazz scene,
the Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra offers bandleader, composer and trombonist
Scott Reeves a similar opportunity. The big band's thrilling second album,
Without a Trace, showcases the results with a decade-spanning repertoire drawing
from both original compositions and bold new arrangements of jazz standards.
Due out March 16, 2018 from Origin Records, Without a Trace
draws on the influences of great big band composer/arrangers from Ellington and
Gil Evans to Thad Jones, Bob Brookmeyer and Jim McNeely. Reeves spent years
writing for the likes of Dave Liebman's Big Band, the Westchester Jazz
Orchestra, Bill Mobley's Smoke Big Band, and the BMI Jazz Composers Orchestra
before setting out on his own in 2008. Seeing the divide between swing
traditionalists and more harmonically inventive modernists, Reeves decided to
cull the best from both worlds, devising inventive harmonic progressions but
never letting go of the vigorous swing that makes large ensemble music so
exciting.
"I've had people describe my band as sounding like
'swinging dissonance'," Reeves says with a laugh. "A lot of my music
is overtly swinging in the tradition of big band jazz, but in the majority of
my work I'm trying to get away from the typical harmonic palette."
It helps when bridging such a stylistic gulf to be supported
by some of the most talented and sought-after musicians in modern jazz, and
Reeves can count many of them as regular band members for the whole of the
17-piece Orchestra's existence. The line-up on Without a Trace includes
saxophonists Steve Wilson, Tim Armacost, Vito Chiavuzzo, Rob Middleton, Jay
Brandford and Terry Goss; trumpeters Seneca Black, Nathan Eklund, Chris Rogers,
Bill Mobley and Andy Gravish; trombonists Tim Sessions, Matt McDonald, Matt
Haviland and Max Siegel; pianist Jim Ridl, vibraphonist Dave Ellson, bassist
Todd Coolman, and drummer Andy Watson. Stunning vocalist Carolyn Leonhart, on a
break from her busy touring schedule with Steely Dan, guests on the lovely
title tune.
Having been able to get know his musicians' sounds so
intimately over the years, Reeves has become adept at styling his arrangements
to spotlight their particular talents. Not that there's much that a virtuoso
like Steve Wilson - an in-demand guest soloist for most bands, but regular lead
alto with Reeves' Orchestra - couldn't handle. Wilson's fiery yet controlled
voice drove Reeves' take on Kurt Weill's classic "Speak Low," which
begins with a nod to Bill Evans' classic rendition from his New Jazz Conceptions
album before surging along on an Afro-Cuban beat. Trumpeter Chris Rogers and
drummer Andy Watson follow with their own blistering solos.
Leonhart's elegant turn on Reeves' own "Without a
Trace" follows. Where the orchestra's debut, Portraits and Places, featured
wordless vocals as a coloristic element, here Reeves pens lyrics to craft a
love song that matches the emotion and drama of some of the Songbook standards
in his repertoire. Leonhart's subtle grace belies the tune's angular melody,
which combine to conjure a uniquely dark-tinged atmosphere for the song. The
familiar "All or Nothing at All" is completely reimagined in Reeves'
handling, with an Ahmad Jamal-inspired groove and a taste of John Coltrane's
immortal "Giant Steps," giving the timeless tune a feeling unmoored
from any particular era.
"I always try to transform a song in some way when I do
an arrangement," Reeves explains. "I learned that particularly from
studying Gil Evans' music. He would take a tune and it would somehow end up in
a completely different universe from where it originally started."
Reeves' entrancing original "Incandescence" was
inspired by a trip to the south of France, where the composer - an amateur
astronomer when away from the bandstand - marveled at the star-filled skies
over a medieval walled village. The very next day he was at the piano in his
rented house, capturing the majesty and mystery of that experience in music.
"Shapeshifter" is similarly evocative, built on a tonal twelve-tone
row that adds a touch of sci-fi strangeness (with an explicit wink towards Star
Trek).
"JuJu" has been a favorite of forward-looking jazz
musicians since Wayne Shorter first recorded it more than 50 years ago; of
course, being one of the most forward-looking of them all, Shorter has never
been interested in doing things the same way. John Patitucci, the longtime
bassist in Shorter's revered modern quartet, gave Reeves the lead sheet for the
sax icon's current approach to the song, which Reeves combines with a
sax-section arrangement of Shorter's original solo, making this version
something of a portrait of Shorter's incredible evolution. Another portrait of
sorts, the lively "Something for Thad" closes the album with a brisk
homage to another of Reeves' bandleading heroes, the great Thad Jones.
Though the prospect of leading a big band in the current
music-industry environment is a daunting one, Reeves has learned all the right
lessons from his mentors: assemble brilliant musicians; pen original, heartfelt
music and inventive arrangements; innovate without losing touch with the
tradition. With all of those elements radiantly in place, the Scott Reeves Jazz
Orchestra takes its place among jazz's most compelling ensembles on Without a
Trace.
Scott Reeves is a trombonist, alto flugelhornist, composer,
arranger, author, and college jazz educator. A Chicago native, he attended
Indiana University where his teachers included David Baker and Thomas
Beversdorf. Over the years, he also studied improvisation with Woody Shaw and
Kenny Werner, and arranging with Manny Albam, Mike Abene, Jim McNeely and Mike
Holober. Reeves regularly performs with the Dave Liebman Big Band, the Bill
Mobley Big Band, and the Valery Ponomarev Big Band, and has subbed with the
Vanguard Orchestra, the Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, and the
Oliver Lake Big Band. His own groups include the 17-piece Scott Reeves Jazz
Orchestra, his quintet with saxophonist Rich Perry, and his 4-trombone,
3-rhythm band, Manhattan Bones. Reeves has been teaching jazz at the university
level since 1976 and is currently a Professor at The City College of New York,
CUNY. His two books, Creative Jazz Improvisation and Creative Beginnings (both
published by Prentice-Hall), are among the most widely used texts in their
field.
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