Miho Hazama's m_unit: Beyond Orbits
Edition Records

Miho Hazama's 2021 album Imaginary Visions found her guiding the renowned Danish Radio Big Band through its paces in her newly adopted role as chief conductor, a post earlier held by Thad Jones, Bob Brookmeyer, and Jim McNeely. The Grammy-nominated composer and arranger has also conducted the Metropole Orkest, WDR Big Band, and Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra and is Associate Artistic Director of the New York Jazzharmonic. Yet no matter how packed Hazama's schedule is, her m_unit ensemble holds a special place in her heart for one reason in particular: in contrast to the other outfits with which she's associated, m_unit's personnel is determined entirely by her. That enables her to shape the music in an even more personal way and bring the sound in her head into the world.

She might have composed the material for Beyond Orbits, the ensemble's first album in five years, from the safety of her New York apartment while the pandemic brought things to a standstill, but you'd never know it when the performances burst with vitality and excitement. Perhaps responding to the feeling of claustrophobia associated with that time, Hazama lifted her eyes to the skies and after learning about exoplanets and receiving a commission in 2021 from the Monterey Jazz Festival wrote the Exoplanet Suite. Augmenting that three-part work are five others that showcase the splendour of her ensemble. Produced by Hazama, the sixty-five-minute set was recorded at NYC's Power Station earlier this year in three February days and includes bassist Christian McBride and alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins guesting on a single track apiece.

“Abeam” lunges from the gate with a Latin-powered pulse and the band blazing. Shifting rapidly to orchestral jazz, the music achieves lift-off with an exuberant, strings-sweetened expression and dynamic contributions from all involved, lethargy clearly not a word in m_unit's vocabulary. As pianist Billy Test and trumpeter Jonathan Powell deliver the album's first formal solos, we're reminded of how smoothly Hazama folds individual turns into her large-scale designs. As openers go, “Abeam” is eight minutes of unbridled ferocity and establishes a high-water mark for the rest of the album to equal. Understandably pitched at a less energized level, the subsequent “A Monk in Ascending and Descending” brings the group's painterly side to the forefront with an arrangement that highlights its different sections and gives tenor saxist Jason Rigby an alluringly romantic backdrop to emote against.

A classic big band-styled statement, the suite's opening part, "Elliptical Orbit,” is ear-catching for its high-powered swing and lively solos by vibraphonist James Shipp and McBride (Sam Anning the bassist elsewhere). The central section, “Three Sunlights,” opts for a peaceful and ponderous tone, with Steve Wilson on soprano sax distinguishing the performance with an explorative, rather Shorter-esque solo. As naturally, “Planet Nine” reinstates the uptempo feel of the opening movement, with this time Goldbas, tenor saxist Jeremy Powell, and baritone saxist Andrew Gutauskas animating the take.

Only one tune's not written by Hazama, Skip Scarborough's “Can't Hide Love,” which receives a beguiling treatment warmed by strings and Wilson's flute. A light, subtly hip-hop-inflected groove buoys “Portrait of Guess,” after which “From Life Comes Beauty,” featuring the lustrous sound of Adam Unsworth's French horn and crowned by Wilkins' soaring alto sax, concludes the album on a quasi-euphoric note. Every great band needs a great drummer, and Jake Goldbas lifts the music with crisp, inventive, and arresting playing. His terrific spotlight at the end of “A Monk in Ascending and Descending” is a representative illustration, and the way he turns the beat around throughout provides one pleasure after another.

September 2023