Jaelem Bhate: On The Edge
Jaelem Bhate

Terraza Big Band: One Day Wonder
Outside in Music

Despite the omnipresent reality of economic challenges, the big band genre is alive and even perhaps, as these two recordings suggest, thriving. The days when a large ensemble remained intact as a touring and recording entity for long periods might now be more a matter of historical record, but contemporary jazz artists are still finding ways to keep the fire burning. In the case of Jaelem Bhate's On The Edge, it involved assembling some of Canada's most talented jazz instrumentalists to record; One Day Wonder, on the other hand, came about when the Terraza Big Band's co-leaders, alto saxophonist Michael Thomas and bassist Edward Perez, brought the group into the studio after four years of monthly performances at Terraza 7 in the Queens, New York neighbourhood of Jackson Heights. Both releases effectively show there's considerable life left in the big band genre as well as offer compelling updates on it from different coasts and two sides of the border.

Hailing from Vancouver, Bhate has established himself as a composer in both jazz and classical milieus. He founded and directs the 45th Ave Jazz Band, a seventeen-piece jazz orchestra that exclusively performs his compositions, while his classical works have been presented by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Victoria Symphony. By design, his debut album reflects experiences growing up in his native British Columbia, most directly in the four-part Pacific Suite that is the album's centerpiece. Make no mistake: On the Edge is not an experimental album aspiring to advance the big band concept in bold new ways; instead, it's a collection of straight-ahead jazz focused almost exclusively on acoustic timbres (though Ricardo Halabi contributes a stinging electric guitar solo to “Strung Along,” it's the only time the album departs from its acoustic focus).

In time-honoured fashion, the band splits into sections: rhythm section (Halabi, pianist Andrew MacDonald, bassist Jacques Forest, drummer Duran Ritz), saxophones (Brent Mah, Mo Miao, Steve Kaldestad, Ardeshir Pourkeramati, Adam Kyle), trumpets (Michael Kim, Jocelyn Waugh, Daniel Hersog, Silas Friesen), and trombones (Kevin Jackson, Cam Henderson, Sean Lavigne, Sharman King, Louis Lam). With fourteen of the eighteen players reeds and horns, it's no surprise that On the Edge's sound is robust and full-bodied. That front-line also accounts for a major part of the recording's appeal when the saxes and brass players generate such gorgeous, sweetly singing harmonies (see the affable “Strung Along” as one example). As appealing as Bhate's arrangements are, they're matched by the compositions, which impress as well-crafted exercises rich in singing melodies and contrasts in dynamics and mood.

Kaldestad, who's granted a number of solo spots, makes his presence felt early with a strong tenor statement on the title cut, whose grooving swing establishes the album's traditional big band character at the outset. Here and elsewhere, the rhythm section provides a tight foundation, with Ritz in particular making his authoritative presence felt. Alto saxist Mah proves he's no slouch in the soloing department when his turn enlivens the already high-flying “Wishful Thinking” and lifts “Uninhabitation” skyward with an expansive solo that's one of the album's best. On the gentler tip are the affecting ballad “When I Was Loved” and the suite's melancholy “Uninhabitation,” elevated respectively by elegant turns from trumpeter Friesen and trombonist Jackson. As mentioned, Pacific Suite is the album's central work, a sweeping, panoramic portrait whose rhythms venture into Latin (“Straits and Narrows”) and shuffle-strut (the suite's “Sea of Glass”) zones.

As I listen to On the Edge, I find myself visualizing a beautiful summer's afternoon at The Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Bhate's musicians performing on stage as a cool breeze wafts in from the Pacific to make the set all the more pleasing. Completing the picture, I also see captivated attendees gravitating post-performance to the merchandise stand to grab copies of the album.

The lineup on One Day Wonder, the Terraza Big Band's debut album, matches that on Bhate's, with again saxophones (Michael Thomas, alto Roman Filiu, Troy Roberts, John Ellis, Andrew Gutauskas), trumpets (Sam Hoyt, Alex Norris, Dave Neves, Josh Deutsch), and trombones (John Fedchock, Matt McDonald, Nick Vayenas, Jennifer Wharton) augmented by a rhythm section (guitarist Alex Wintz, pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Edward Perez, drummer Jimmy Macbride, percussionist Samuel Torres). One noticeable difference is the inclusion on One Day Wonder of conductor Miho Hazama, a highly regarded composer and bandleader in her own right.

Thomas and Perez first met in Boston before becoming roommates in New York, and at such close quarters it was inevitable that their shared passion would develop into a band project, one whose jazz foundation would have room for Perez's Latin music inclinations (after studying math at Harvard University, the bassist spent two years in Lima, Peru performing with and learning from celebrated Afro-Peruvian music figures). In keeping with their co-leader roles, the album's writing credits are split evenly between them, Thomas and Perez composers of four tunes apiece and tenor saxophonist Roberts credited with one. In all cases, a thoughtful balance is achieved between fully notated material and solo spotlights, the latter fluidly emerging at strategic moments within the compositions.

Ten seconds into the album and “Zed” is already roaring, the saxes and horns engaged in complex polyphony and Wintz and Thomas delivering tasty solos that simultaneously capture Perdomo, Perez, and Macbride powering the performance with muscular drive. A nine-minute showstopper arranged by Thomas, Roberts' title composition sizzles with big band fervour, the playing unfailingly tight as it ventures into high-velocity swing and elsewhere. Not everything's so frenetic: the relaxed tempo of Thomas's “Without Doubt” isn't unwelcome after such intensity, especially when its serene presentation allows for elegant contributions from pianist Perdomo, trumpeter Neves, and Thomas himself in a particularly sultry turn. Also restrained is Perez's “Flights of Angels,” a brooding meditation wherein the band's bassist and guitarist impress with sensitively rendered solo statements.

Not the only time on the recording, the group's Latin side comes to the fore during Perez's “A New Leaf,” a breezy, mellifluous number that, with its muted trumpets, flute, and Colombian-inflected pulse, captures the band maximizing the symphonic potential a jazz orchestra's capable of delivering. The swinging feel's even more emphatic on his “Me Lo Dijo Mi Primo,” which derives substantial momentum from Perdomo, Macbride, and the bassist himself.

June 2019