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About Allegresse
Amazon.com There have been very few orchestral composers in jazz who achieved creative success, if only because such a combination of talents--from logistics to force of will to the openness to input from the players--is wildly rare. Maria Schneider, once a protégée of , has been demonstrating those talents since her orchestra's debut in 1994, Evanescence. The vagaries of big bands make working relationships particularly important, and Schneider is attuned to every nuance and timbre of her musicians. It shows in the superb sectional play, the sensitivity to dynamics, and the gorgeous combinations of alto flutes, English horn, clarinets, and piccolo trumpet. Each of Schneider's pieces here is a full-fledged composition, a rich tapestry filled with subtle shifts in voicing, airy highs or welling depths, and frequent surprise. Her expressive range is vast, from the opening "Hang Gliding," air-borne on a Brazilian beat, to the unfolding mysteries of the 21-minute "Dissolution," including reed writing that creates the illusion of strings. At the same time, she's developed a distinctive tonal language that suggests a suite of linked pieces. Each work features just one or two soloists, and there's an uncanny relationship between the writing and improvising, including 's crystalline piano on "Nocturne," a piece that suggests Evans's writing for Sketches of Spain, and 's acutely focused, energetic guitar on "Journey Home." The piquant "Allegresse" is a continuous evolution of relations between the orchestra, on flügelhorn and harmon-muted trumpet, and Rich Perry on tenor saxophone. --Stuart Broomer Review In the career of almost every major artist, there comes a time when she turns a corner and finds herself at a new vista, a place where past efforts fall into perspective and the future is no longer an uphill climb. Many listeners will say that Allégresse (Enja), the third album from the composer-conductor Maria Schneider, marks such a step. Nothing comes closer to that goal than "Hang Gliding," the album opener, in which Schneider attempts to convey her initiation into the sport during a visit to Rio de Janeiro. I've listened to "Hang Gliding" a dozen times without growing even a little bored. Rather, I'm mesmerized by Schneider's decision to write the piece in 11/4. Effectively this becomes a half-measure of six followed by a half-measure of five. The little jolt at the end of each bar propels the piece from within. I'm hooked on how she shifts the theme's accents to sometimes interlock with and sometimes counter the beat itself. It adds a wholly accessible level of complexity that deepens the experience. And I smile at the solos by trumpeter Greg Gisbert and tenor saxist Rick Margitza - as much for the textured pastels that frame them as for the solos themselves. Indeed, one of Schneider's greatest strengths is her ability to write behind the soloists and shape their impact. The album's longest and most ambitious work is the 20-minute "Dissolution," written on commission for Pilobolus, the internationally renowned dance troupe. Schneider credits the collaboration with Pilobolus in helping her to reach that new vista around the corner. --Neil Tesser, JAZZIZ Magazine Copyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc. -- From Jazziz
