For the ages
No need to re-invent the wheel
It still goes round. Nothing short of a remarkable Kenny Wheeler Legacy tribute project that unites musicians from London and Miami recorded at Abbey Road, the London studio complex synonymous with The Beatles.
All these tracks from The Lost Scores: Some Days Are Better by the Royal Academy of Music Jazz Orchestra and the University of Miami’s Frost Jazz Orchestra have a great many merits.
The album, a blend of instrumentals interspersed by vocals, features stellar horn power from Chris Potter, Ingrid Jensen, James Copus, Etienne Charles, Brian Lynch and John Daversa who leads the Miami combo.
Highlights include classic Gnu High piece ‘Smatter’ aka ‘Smatta’ here, from an album that featured Wheeler with Keith Jarrett, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette issued by ECM in 1976.
While it’s a group effort and the ultimate magnetic force here are the poignant and moving tunes of Kenny Wheeler, soloists who steal the show are Ingrid Jensen and Scottie Thompson on ‘Smatta,’ Norma Winstone singing movingly on the philosophical ‘Sweet Yakity Waltz’ and the extraordinary contributions by Evan Parker on ‘C. P. E. P.’ In terms of the arranging we liked the Dankworthian style conjured on the upbeat and pacey ‘D. G. S’ most. It might be a shock to some naysayers and jazz haters that given what’s achieved here the big band still proves a valid proposition artistically.
There’s plenty of power and at no times is anything here safe
Wheeler died in 2014 at the age of 84. As a composer he first surfaced with the John Dankworth Orchestra of which he was a member with Windmill Tilter released by Fontana in 1969 and remastered in recent years. Later the Canada born Wheeler led his own big band and in 1973 on Song For Someone made his debut as leader.
- Read a review of the new Brian Shaw and Nick Smart Kenny Wheeler biography
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