Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra: Voices – A Musical Heritage
Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra

In featuring material by First Nations, Metis, Ukrainian, Jewish, Chilean, Brazilian, Nigerian, and Icelandic composers, the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra's sixth album is both a celebration of global diversity and by implication Canadian values of openness and inclusivity. Political undercurrents aside, Voices – A Musical Heritage is also, full stop, another terrific musical statement from a Manitoba-based outfit that's dazzled listeners with concerts and recordings since Richard Gillis and Sasha Boychouk co-founded it in 1997. The WJO has given over 150 concerts and presented over 120 new pieces and arrangements, dozens of them Canadian commissions written for the jazz orchestra.

A high bar for Voices was set by its fifth album, Twisting Ways, justifiably recognized by the CBC as one its favourite jazz albums of 2021, but the new collection, which features material by eight composers as oppose to its predecessor's two, is as rewarding. With twenty-five names listed on the inner sleeve, it's no surprise that the ensemble's lustrous sound invites comparison to a classical orchestra's, the difference being the abundant soloing on Voices. By my count, eight saxophonists, four trumpeters, and four trombonists appear on the release, along with a pianist, guitarist, drummer, bassists, and percussionists (to be clear, not all twenty-six play on every track). Credited as conductor, trumpeter and flugelhornist, arranger of two pieces, and the composer of another, Gillis remains an integral part of the WJO operation.

The release starts memorably with The Parallel Steps, an ambitious three-part suite by John Stetch that reimagines Ukrainian folk songs in bold manner. Using “Oy Chy Toy Keeyn Stoyit” as a launchpad, “Keeyn” blossoms from a lyrical intro by pianist Will Bonness into a rousing expression that recalls the grandeur of 1983's The Ballad of the Fallen by Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. In this dynamic opening part, the WJO's horn and woodwind textures are wonderful, but the performance is also enhanced by Larry Roy's acoustic guitar solo and a chant-like vocal section. In the work's central movement, the WJO transforms into a modern-day version of The World Saxophone Quartet when “Ochka” features the joyful swing of saxophone players only. Shifting gears again, “Yaseni” brings the full orchestra back for a high-flying headspinner powered by drummer Fabio Ragnelli, the material even making room for big band-styled playing of the kind the Duke Ellington Orchestra might have delivered at one if its own dates.

Written in tribute to the Latin American figure Victor Jara, Rodrigo Muñoz's Homenaje perpetuates the breathlessness of “Yaseni” with a sultry set-piece buoyed by infectious Latin American and Cuban rhythms. For The Living Mind, Jeff Presslaff adopted a pitch system based on the pentatonic scale, though the listener's attention will more likely centre on the high-energy playing of the ensemble, as well as the ear-catching transition from the intense opening part to the comparatively languorous second. The focus then shifts to Africa for Henry Onwuchekwa's celebratory Oriri, a word that means ‘party' in the composer's home-town in Nigeria, before Gillis's own Shadows paints a panoramic picture of the Icelandic landscape. The piece could just as easily pass for a jazzy Lalo Schifrin homage, however, the moment those muted horns and singing saxes enter the frame. Inspired by the Amazon rainforest, Marco Castillo's Choro para Amazônia swings too, though his plea for protecting our Earth is animated by a Brazilian-influenced feel. Voices ends powerfully with the funky drive of The Bison Hunt by Métis composer Michelle Gregoire, like Gillis's piece a little bit Schifrin-like.

January 2023