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Masterpiece ★★★★★ Excellent ★★★★ Good ★★★ Fair ★★ Poor ★<br />
Inside <br />
50 I Jazz<br />
52 I Blues<br />
54 I Beyond<br />
57 I Historical<br />
59 I Books<br />
Gerald Wilson<br />
courtesy mack avenue<br />
Gerald Wilson<br />
Orchestra<br />
Legacy<br />
Mack Avenue 1056<br />
HHH<br />
The main purpose on this recording<br />
is to showcase Gerald Wilson’s<br />
“Yes Chicago Is…,” a terse programmatic<br />
suite commissioned in<br />
2008 for the Chicago Jazz Festival.<br />
Its seven pieces taken together run<br />
only 14 minutes, some so brief as<br />
to be virtually orphans. Hearing<br />
“47th St. Blues” is like walking<br />
in on the last two choruses of a<br />
blues that’s been cooking for several<br />
minutes. And “Blowin’ In The<br />
Windy City” is nipped in the bud<br />
after one minute before any flavor<br />
or feeling begins to set in or be<br />
summed up.<br />
In fairness, the individual parts<br />
are not intended to be free-standing<br />
singular portraits. All are hatched<br />
from the same thematic nugget,<br />
providing a running continuity that<br />
makes each part a variation and<br />
extension on the other. Accordingly,<br />
Wilson manages to redecorate the<br />
same thought with all the options<br />
of tempo and timbre you’d expect<br />
from a skilled arranger. “Riffin’<br />
At The Regal” molds the material<br />
into a simple, satisfying bit of big<br />
band swing. “Cubs, Bears…” survives<br />
long enough to give satisfactory<br />
solo space to baritonist Gary<br />
Smulyan and what sounds like<br />
Dennis Wilson on plunger trombone.<br />
But overall, while a pleasant<br />
and agreeable work from a veteran<br />
pro, “Yes Chicago Is…” lacks<br />
the compelling charisma or sense of<br />
originality likely to get it played a<br />
second time.<br />
If brevity was the soul of<br />
“Chicago,” Wilson is expansive<br />
on the balance of the program,<br />
which gives him a chance to further<br />
experiment in the art of variation.<br />
When Wilson was coming up<br />
with the Jimmie Lunceford band<br />
around 1940, bandleaders often<br />
raided the classics for pop material.<br />
Wilson returns to that tradition<br />
here, though his choices are little<br />
more than checkpoints for flights<br />
of departure. “Variation On A<br />
Theme by Igor Stravinsky” opens<br />
with a thundering vamp, almost<br />
an ostinato, that seems to derive<br />
from the fourth movement of The<br />
Firebird Suite. But it quickly discards<br />
all pomp and rumble, transforming<br />
itself into a jaunty solo<br />
vehicle for tenor saxophone and<br />
trumpet.<br />
“Variations On Clair De Lune”<br />
drips with an alluring film noir<br />
expressionism supplied by pianist<br />
Renee Rosnes, whose sticky fingers<br />
cling engagingly to her slurred<br />
and bluesy notes while Wilson’s<br />
saxes and brass quietly stalk<br />
her like shadows in a dark alley.<br />
Antonio Hart brings the music into<br />
the daylight with a glaring vigor.<br />
Perhaps the most sustained single<br />
piece of orchestration is<br />
“Virgo,” a nearly 10-minute work<br />
in which Wilson is discreetly at<br />
hand beside or beneath virtually<br />
every soloist. Overall, the disc is<br />
good but unexceptional big band<br />
music. —John McDonough<br />
Legacy: Variation On A Theme by Igor Stravinsky;<br />
Virgo; Variations On Clair De Lune; Variation<br />
On A Theme By Giacomo Puccini; September<br />
Sky; A Jazz Mecca; A Night At The El Grotto; Riffin’<br />
At The Regal; Cub, Bears, Bulls, And White<br />
Sox; 47th St. Blues; Blowin’ In The Windy City; A<br />
Great Place to Be. (49:59)<br />
Personnel: Frank Greene, Sean Jones, Tony Lujan,<br />
Freddie Hendrix, Jeremy Peit, Mike Rodriguez,<br />
trumpets/flugelhorn; Dennis Wilson, Luis Bonilla,<br />
Alan Ferber, Douglas Purviance, trombones; Antonio<br />
Hart, Dick Oatts, Kamasi Washington, Ron<br />
Blake; Jay Bradford; Gary Smulyan, saxophones;<br />
Renee Rosnes, piano; Anthony Wilson, guitar; Peter<br />
Washington, bass; Lewis Nash, drums.<br />
Ordering info: mackavenue.com<br />
SEPTEMBER 2011 DOWNBEAT 45