Stephen Philip Harvey Jazz Orchestra: Smash!
Next Level

Todd Marcus Jazz Orchestra: In the Valley
Stricker Street

Yu Nishiyama: A Lotus in the Mud
Next Level

Despite the economic challenges that constantly threaten its existence, the jazz orchestra appears to be very much alive and prospering, in so far as these new releases might be taken as a reliable indicator of it health. Each one is different, with all three bandleaders distinguishing their projects in myriad ways and imprinting their personalities upon the ensembles and the material. Whereas A Lotus in the Mud draws for inspiration from Yu Nishiyama's journey from Yokohama to Texas to NYC, Stephen Philip Harvey's Smash! and Todd Marcus's In the Valley find their respective inspirations in comic book superheroes and Egyptian culture.

Nishiyama's set is the debut album by the Japanese composer's big band, and it's a good one. The performances are poised, the material multi-hued, and the album itself a to-the-point forty-three minutes. All the tunes are Nishiyama's but one, Hoagy Carmichael's “Skylark,” here reimagined as an infectious Brazilian samba. The breezy treatment she opted for is representative of the album's general tone: A Lotus in the Mud is anything but lugubrious, and its exuberant spirit carries over into some of the other five pieces. The title, of course, references the lotus flower, significant for being a Buddhist symbol of enlightenment but even more for being a flower that looks beautiful when seen floating on the water's surface but underneath is rooted in dirt. In keeping with a Buddhist belief that a lotus blooms better when the mud is dirtier, Nishiyama sees her own music as similar in the way different facets of her musical persona are present at the surface level but intimated underneath too. She references the messiness of human experience directly in the track title “I can't imagine a happy life without you.”

While Nishiyama moved to the US to attend the jazz program at the University of North Texas and develop her sax skills, she soon found her interests gravitating in the direction of the school's big bands, and once she started writing for the unit, it quickly became her primary focus. She subsequently attended William Paterson University in New Jersey for her Masters degree, and the move proved fortuitous in presenting a talent pool from which to draw for her debut album. Approximately half of the personnel in the nineteen-member unit on it were her peers at the university, including trumpeter Nathan Eklund and trombonists Nick Grinder and Peter Lin.

Nishiyama's gifts as an arranger are immediately evident in the vibrant woodwind and horn colours that introduce “Retrospections” and that when joined by her powerful rhythm section elevate the performance to a state of splendour. True to jazz orchestra convention, she deftly works solos into her arrangements, the rousing one by alto saxophonist Adam Hutcheson on the opening track a prime example. At ten minutes, “Retrospections” provides a terrific account of Nishiyama as composer, arranger, and conductor, especially when the performance is inspired and the playing tight. Animated by a “Take Five”-styled bass figure and bringing a soulful swing to the release, “Time Is Money” augments the growl and bite of Lin's trombone with the band's sweetly singing saxophonists. Whereas strong solo turns by flutist William McKee and flugelhornist David DiTrapani add to the soothing lyricism of “I can't imagine a happy life without you,” “Honorary Whites” makes a comparatively more vigorous and at times turbulent statement. The aerodynamic allure of “Skylark” is enhanced by grooving expressions from guitarist Peter Hunter and Caelan Cardello on Rhodes. For a debut album, A Lotus in the Mud is preternaturally poised. Nishiyama's seemingly arrived fully formed, and though she's following in the footsteps of others, her personal voice resonates throughout the outing.

Like Nishiyama's release, Smash! presents the debut big band statement from composer and bandleader Stephen Philip Harvey. Inspiration here, however, comes from a totally different place: superheroes and comic books. Listeners can relax: there's nothing cartoonish about the music, though the boisterous energy of the performances does at times evoke the epic fight sequences found in issues of Batman, Black Panther, and Spiderman. Harvey's a saxophonist as well as a music teacher and choir director in Salisbury, MD, but he doesn't play on the recording; instead, his energy's channeled into leading seventeen musicians through nine pieces. Five woodwinds, four trumpets, four trombones, and a rhythm section comprising guitarist Dan Bruce, pianist Alex Ayers, bassist Vinny Vivacqua, and drummer Dustin May power the ensemble and give robust voice to Harvey's originals. Many of the participants hail from Western Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio, with some bandleaders and solo artists in their own right.

As the scene-setting title cut makes clear, the band's playing is tight and muscular, and the writing and arranging strong. Often the latter alternates between full ensemble passages to ones featuring smaller sub-units, a move that grants individual players prime moments in the spotlight. “Smash!,” for example, weaves solos by trumpeter JD Chaisson and saxophonist Clint Bell into its framework, while tenor saxist Jason Kush and Bruce contribute inspired turns to “The Mystics” and “Mechanical Men,” respectively. With moods changing from one composition to the next, the sense of foreboding that colours “Vigilante” is alleviated by the free-flight of “Zephyr,” all soaring horns and the elegant abandon of pianist Ayers. Different stylistic colours find their way into the album too, with an infectious funk feel elbowing its way into “Nefarious Plots” and big band jazz predominating otherwise. As generally marked by high-intensity as the release is, one of its best pieces is “Hero's Journey” for its ballad-styled delicacy and the complementary solos Bruce and Chaisson fashioned for it. The closing “Party Song” is memorable also for its spirited vibe, infectious groove, and Ayers' Fender Rhodes textures.

If a recording so themed seems opportunistic, be aware that Harvey's less piggybacking on the current obsession with movie blockbusters than indulging a love he formed as a boy watching superheroes on Saturday mornings and devouring their exploits in comic form. While track titles such as “The Mystics” and “Mechanical Men” might suggest connections to figures such as Doctor Strange, Doctor Doom, Iron Man, and Silver Surfer, Harvey clarifies that such titles are intended as allusions to archetypes, not specific characters. Think of Smash! as a series of comic book escapades rendered into vivid musical form.

Concept aside, Todd Marcus's In the Valley parts company from the other two releases on two counts. First, the bass clarinetist plays on the recording while also leading the band, and the outfit, while designated a jazz orchestra, totals nine players and is thus about half the size of those led by Nishiyama and Harvey. A nonet's still a generously sized outfit, however, and Marcus's music hardly suffers for being performed by a smaller unit. Advantages accrue to the more modest size too, with mobility easier to implement and greater space available for individuals to maneuver within. As mentioned, Egypt is the source of inspiration for the project, something Marcus comes by honestly: his father's Egyptian, and he's visited the country many times since childhood as both a family man and touring musician. In simplest terms, In the Valley is Marcus's love letter to Egypt's culture, history, and physical beauty and a genuine attempt to realize a satisfying fusion of American jazz and Middle Eastern music. As he writes in liner notes, that merging of Western harmony and Middle Eastern melodies and scales is something of a metaphor for his own ongoing integration of America and Egyptian cultures.

In the Valley isn't his first move in that direction, however: 2015's Blues for Tahrir was grounded in musical elements associated with the Arab Spring movement that occurred in Egypt in 2011, and performances of the music thereafter in the region fostered the development of the five compositions on the new release. The unit he's assembled—saxophonists Greg Tardy (tenor), Russell Kirk (alto), Brent Birckhead (alto and flute), trumpeter Alex Norris, trombonist Alan Ferber, pianist Xavier Davis, bassist Jeff Reed, and drummer Eric Kennedy—is a marvel throughout but particularly jaw-dropping on the uptempo material. That the ensemble was able to execute Marcus's polyphonic and oft-intricate charts so tightly and lay the album down in a single day—June 17, 2019—speaks to the superior calibre of musicianship in play.

Titled after the ancient Egyptian deity with the body of a man and the head of a falcon, “Horus” roars into being after a short intro, with Marcus, abetted by a furiously animated rhythm section, taking the first solo, an on-fire Norris the second, and a volcanic Kennedy the third. The performance is so exhilarating and inspired, it's almost possible to overlook how deftly the leader weaves Middle Eastern flavour into the writing. While not as frenetically paced as the opener, “The Hive” and “Cairo Street Ride,” Marcus's attempts to render the busyness of modern-day Cairo and the chaos of its streets and traffic into musical form, teem with activity and imagination too. Not every piece is rooted in Egyptian soil, though the connection is still in place indirectly in the album's sole solemn expression. Marcus wrote “Final Days” during a visit to the New Jersey home where he'd grown up and where his father had passed away a few months earlier. The ballad-styled number shows that a nine-member band can achieve orchestral grandeur when the material and arrangement are strong, and the leader's solo plays like he's channeling a lifetime's worth of emotions. The release serves as a powerful reminder that Egypt's a whole lot more than pyramids, the Sphinx, and other tourist attractions. The hustle-and-bustle of contemporary metropolitan life is an equally strong aspect of its identity, and Marcus draws from the vitality of its spirit throughout this accomplished album statement.

June 2022