Mike Holober & the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters
Palmetto Records

Writing about Hiding Out, the 2019 release by Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra, jazz reviewers celebrated its “powerful orchestral magic” and praised Holober's “daring compositional voice” and “profound artistic vision.” One expects those same writers would echo their earlier sentiments when assessing the latest opus by the composer, arranger, and conductor, This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters. This double-disc creation is an epic achievement elevated by exceptional musicianship, writing, and arranging. It would be difficult to imagine it not being honoured with a Grammy nomination for “Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album” just as its predecessor was. Besides leading his own ensemble, Holober's been Artistic Director of the Westchester Jazz Orchestra and has written and conducted for, among others, the WDR Big Band (Cologne, Germany). He's issued seven recordings as a leader and fronts a number of smaller group projects in addition to the jazz orchestra. Testifying to the esteem with which he's held, the classically trained Holober was awarded the 2022 American Academy of Arts and Letters Andrew Imbrie Award in Music. When not fronting a band, Holober's an educator who's a full Professor at The City College of New York and also teaches at The Manhattan School of Music.

The new release is a fascinating and original work on many levels. As its two-part title implies, the project's an epic meditation on earth that Holober explores through the to-and-fro of imaginary letters between environmentally conscious writers, artists, and activists (Ansel Adams and Rachel Carson two of the better-known) who've dedicated themselves to protecting the planet we share. The work might be seen as a grandiose, multi-movement jazz symphony or as a symphonic art song cycle scored for voice and jazz orchestra. Vocal settings are followed by related instrumental movements that reflect on the ideas expressed in the letter movements.

To realize his vision, Holober convened an incredible cast of New York City musicians at Oktaven Studios in June 2023. Certain names jump out—tenor saxophonist Chris Potter, cellist Jody Redhage Ferber, and bassist John Patitucci—but all are first-call players. With the leader contributing keyboards, the ensemble otherwise includes Brazilian vocalist Jamile Staevie Ayres, guitarist Nir Felder, drummer Jared Schonig, and percussionist James Shipp. In addition to Potter, there are six woodwind players (Charles Pillow, Ben Kono, Jason Rigby, Adam Kolker, Virginia Mayhew, Carl Maraghi) plus five trumpeters (Tony Kadleck, Liesl Whitaker, Marvin Stamm, Scott Wendholt, Stuart Mack) and six trombonists (Matt McDonald, Mark Patterson, Alan Ferber, Jason Jackson, Sara Jacovino, Jeff Nelson). While not every one's featured as a soloist, Holober's distributed spotlights throughout and given many a participant a chance to shine. As expansive as many of the movements' arrangement are, a number of them are scored for smaller groupings and thus emphasize the quieter side of the project.

“Lay of the Land” paints the scenery in broad strokes, the harmonious intro acting as a wide-eyed overture with Potter in the spotlight. Even at this early stage, Holober's talents as an arranger are evident when horns and woodwinds provide a luscious counterpoint to the saxist's authoritative extemporizing; that the band swings hard only adds to the impact. Thereafter, novelist Wendell Berry's appreciation for the replenishment nature brings is expressed in the first imaginary letter setting, “On This Rock,” which Ayres, with trombonist Patterson as her dance partner, elevates with a lovely, heartfelt performance. In similar manner, the lyrical instrumental complement, “Dirt Lover's Almanac,” is distinguished by stellar solo contributions from Redhage Ferber, Patitucci, and alto saxophonist Pillow.

With lyrics fashioned as a letter from Silent Spring author Rachel Carson to her close friend Dorothy Freeman, “Another Summer” engages for its intimate trio of voice, piano, and cello. Its instrumental partner, “Tides,” perpetuates that feeling in featuring the cellist unaccompanied before the other musicians and tenor sax soloist Rigby join her and the arrangement blossoms. “Another Summer Epilogue” closes the circle as a riposte from Freeman to Carson, voice, piano, and cello again the arrangement deployed and the natural huskiness in Ayres' voice used to good effect. The hushed ballad “To Virginia,” its text a poem Adams wrote for his wife Virginia, is one of the album's loveliest pieces due in large part to Ayres' gorgeous vocal. Abetted by Holober on piano, tenor saxist Mayhew and trumpeter Stamm grace “Dear Virginia” with their artistry on the serene instrumental treatment that comes after; by comparison, the closing movement in another tripartite sequence, “Domes,” uses the jazz orchestra in a large-scale manner mirroring the panoramic scope of Adams' photographs.

On disc two, Holober extends the letters concept beyond exchanges between human beings to include ones sent from, in one case, Castleton Tower, one of the globe's largest free-standing towers, to author and environmental activist Terry Tempest Williams and, as fantastically, from a tree to Robin Wall Kimmerer, an environmental scientist and member of the Potawatomi Nation. Highlights include Felder's memorable guitar turn on the relaxedly funky “Erosion” and the poetic honouring of nature writer and conservationist Sigurd Olson, who died while snowshoeing in the Minnesota woods, in “Three Words for Snow.” It's a tad disconcerting when the voice of young Ronan Rigby initially appears in place of Ayres' for “This Rock We're On,” but given that the final movement's presenting an imaginary letter from a child the choice makes artistic sense, even if musically a lead vocal by her would have been the more appealing choice.

August 2024