The orchestra sounds great, the arrangements bringing out the best in them. This should be no surprise: all the arrangers come from within the band; they clearly understood the palette they had to work with.
The main soloist is of course Shorter: his saxes grace all but one of the pieces. On Hammer Head, a slice of upbeat, bouncy big band bop orchestrated by fellow saxophonist Sherman Irby, Shorter has a punchy, youthful voice. His sound on soprano has more depth and contemplation in Lost and Found; much of the piece is just Shorter plus the rhythm section, following which a moody trumpet solo from Kenny Rampton signals the return of the orchestra.
The sole track without Shorter, Teru, is arranged by Wynton Marsalis as a feature for the saxophone section, and has solos from two tenors, Walter Blanding and Victor Goines. It is shamelessly romantic, a wonderfully moving ballad that smooths any wrinkles.
Marsalis himself takes a trumpet solo on the opening track, Yes or No. Victor Goines’ swinging arrangement lets the orchestra soar at full blast for the final crescendo.
Swinging is what JALCO excels at; in his closing comments, Marsalis calls the Lincoln Center, and hence the band, “the house of swing”. Their seemingly effortless precision and slickly rehearsed charts may smooth out the rough-edged exuberance of Shorter’s original small group recordings, but in its place they give us some sublime orchestral jazz.
Patrick Hadfield lives in Edinburgh, occasionally takes photographs, and sometimes blogs at On the Beat. Twitter: @patrickhadfield. Categories: CD reviews
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