THE FOURTEEN JAZZ ORCHESTRA (THE 14 JAZZ ORCHESTRA) — Islands (review)

THE FOURTEEN JAZZ ORCHESTRA (THE 14 JAZZ ORCHESTRA) — Islands album cover Album · 2023 · Big Band Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
js
“Islands” is the fourth album by The 14 Jazz Orchestra, and it finds them going in a slightly different direction this time around. Previous albums by Dan Bonsanti’s 14 piece ensemble were in more of a bop/post bop direction, with this new one, Dan takes his crew on a more contemporary journey with nods to radio friendly fusion and lots of Latin grooves, but still some boppish swing here and there as well. The orchestrations on here tend away from the sectional call and response typical of bop big bands, and lean more towards delicate tone colors that recall Gil Evans, Maurice Ravel, and possibly classic lounge arrangers like Henry Mancini or Les Baxter. Energy wise, “Islands” has a nice balance between mellow ballad material and more high energy blowing sessions. Lots of high profile special guests on here as well, including; Mark Egan, Peter Erskine, Will Lee, Dave Liebman and Mike Mainieri.

You definitely get some musical variety on this album. “Loft Dance” is high energy Brazilian fusion and features the well known soaring soprano saxophone of Dave Liebman. “Missouri Uncompromised” is a Pat Metheny composition with modulating chord progressions with a prog rock flavor. “Bud Powell” is the bebop track and features hot solos on sax, trumpet and piano. “Man from Tanganyika” veers between Latin jazz and hard bop and has tenor saxophonist Ed Calle displaying his Coltrane like sheets of sound soloing technique. On a more mellow note, “Jitterbug Waltz” has fascinating voicings from a trio of flautists. Closing out the album is a beautiful pop ballad, “When She Loved Me”, which Dan dedicates to his brother Neal, who passed away just before he had a chance to perform on this album.
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