AprilCadence2013

Sara Schoenbeck, bsn; Tara
Speiser, bsn; John Fumo,
tpt; Glen Whitehead, tpt;
Jeff Kaiser, tpt; Ed harkins,
tpt; Geroge McMullen,
tbn; Michael Vlatkovich,
tbn; Scott Ray, tbn;
Bruce Fowler, tbn; Danny
Hemwall, b tbn; William
Roper, tba; Wayne Peet, p;
Daniel Johnson, mallets;
Drad Dutz, perc; Harry
Scorzo vln; Jerff Gauthier,
vln; Guinivere Meashem
cel; Colin Pierson, cel;
Jonathan Golove, cel;
Ken Filiano, bass; Joe
Mcnally, bass; Alex Cline
d; Stephanie henry, cond;
Vinnie Golia, cond
DVD 1 TRANSITION/ ZUP &
BARFLE/ VERY MERINGUE:
THE RETURN OF LYNN
JOHNSON/ SECOND AND
FOREMOST/ REVERSE
OLFACTORY LIP CURL
WITH SLIGHT HEAD
REFRAIN 58:10
DVD 2 TRANSITION/
LENNIE HAS ALL THE
GOOD LINES/ ONE OF
THEM IS TWO OF THEM/
ELEPHANT PURSUED BY
MAN IN FLYING PLANE/
TRANSITION/ JAGGED
PIECES FIXED THE
PUZZLES/ TRANSITION/
DO SOMETHING
WONDERFUL 65:18
Bill Plake, cl, flt, ts; Alan
Lecusha, ob, Eng hn, C
New Issues
148 | CadenCe Magazine | april May June 2013
out recordings on his Ninewinds label. I own about a
half dozen or so. I have always found his playing and
his writing interesting but this is the first time I have
been exposed to his large ensemble. It is quite exhilarating.
There is some great writing combined with
some great solos. The ensemble writing is varied and
different pieces focus more on different sections of
the ensemble. In some cases, as in “Escalantics” there is
some interesting string writing, and in “Carnivore” the
brass is featured. But if I started really talking about the
music in any detail, I would end up with a book. First,
there is really great writing here, both in terms of composition
and accompaniments, though I assume the
accompaniments to solos are part of the composition,
much like a symphony, where strings and brass may
accompany a solo instrument but all is written. Here
we have improvised solos over the ensemble writing.
One problem I have with the solos is that their length
appears to be designated by the score. I came up with
this conclusion because of the way the ensembles
play during the solos. Sometimes, it sounded like the
solo went on a bit too long. But, for the most part, the
solos are excellent. There are too many to name here,
everything from saxes and trumpets and trombones to
euphoniums and violins, to bass and percussion, but
the pamphlet lists them all.Some of the writing is nice
and harmonic and some is quite dissonant, but it all
works together. Some of the brass writing reminded
me of the old Stan Kenton bands when he had the
extended brass sections. And as I watched DVD 2 I
kept thinking that if Kenton were still alive, this is what
he might be doing. Think of an extended Artistry in
Rhythm with strings and an extended woodwind section.
This is the case in part due to the presence of the
African drum section all through DVD 2. As I was listening
casually to the CDs, I kept hearing changes and
developments and I started to wonder just how many
sections does this piece have, and I saw I was on track
3. So perhaps, each disc could be seen as one extended
composition with a number of sections, which all seem
to work well together. And trying to use applause as a
guide doesn’t work since there is applause after solos
as well as after whole pieces. After watching the DVDs
this became apparent. The pieces were played continu-