Jim McNeely is among the most interesting jazz composer-arrangers and pianists around today. He always thinks big and fresh when it comes to his writing, and he plays a gorgeous, sensitive piano. His latest album, Barefoot Dancers and Other Visions (Planet Arts), is an original seven-part suite that he arranged and conducted in 2014 with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band. The album was only recently released. [Photo above of Jim McNeely courtesy of Jim McNeely]
A veteran of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra and its successor, Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra, McNeely was mentored by trombonist-arranger Bob Brookmeyer, who also thought expansively when scoring for large jazz ensembles. On this album, McNeely's ambitious suite ranges from the mildly avant-garde to beautifully phrased panoramic ballads. The result is a bouquet of moods and contrapuntal collaborations reminiscent in spirit of Brookmeyer's own late-career works.
As McNeely writes in the album's liner notes:
"It take a few years of writing for a band before you really get to know them. I started working steady with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band in 2008. After three or four projects, I began to see the musicians' face on the score. I could hear their sounds; imagine their improvising. I could hear how they laugh. I was making thousands of arranging decisions based on the characteristics of each player. By the time I wrote the piece on this CD, I knew the ins and outs of this band so very well. I tailored my musical visions to fit each player in the ensemble and placed each soloist in a framework both familiar and challenging. This is truly a collaboration between the members of the band and myself."
A provocative and engaging album at a time when recording original scores with a top-notch jazz orchestra is becoming increasingly rare.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Jim McNeely's Barefoot Dances and Other Visions (Planet Arts), with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Redman Rides Again, with solo performances by Axel Schlosser on flugelhorn and Oliver Leicht on clarinet...
