Reviews
All About Jazz
by Jack Bowers
As the great Sinatra once sang, “It was
a very good year...” While 2001 was hardly trouble-free for the Knoxville (TN) Jazz
Orchestra, the band was able to raise enough money during that time to underwrite a
two-week European tour.
The KJO appeared at France’s Jazz à
Vienne and Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival and was able to document those
splendid performances by including excerpts from each of them on its latest album. Three
selections -- “Angst,” “Skylark,” “Martha Stewart . .
.”—were recorded at Jazz à Vienne, “Man, What a Beautiful
Day“ at Montreux. Three others -- “Uncle Will,” “Mean to Me,”
“Bowl of Cherries” -- were taped at various concerts in Knoxville, Donald
Brown’s picturesque “Scenes of Knoxville” (arranged by trumpeter Vance
Thompson) at West Valley Middle School with Brown adding the piano section later.
Thompson wrote “Angst” for tenor
saxophonist Jimmy Mann and the KJO’s hard-working rhythm section (Bill Swann, piano;
Rusty Holloway, bass; Keith Brown, drums), “Beautiful Day” for his father,
“an incurable optimist,” and “Martha Stewart Ain’t Got Nothin’ on
My Baby” for his wife, “the best carpenter, interior designer, bricklayer and
floor tile expert I know.”
Chicago organist Dan Trudell is showcased on
the standard “Mean to Me,” taken at an amiable gallop, and Brother Jack
McDuff’s groovy “Dig Uncle Will.” Thompson also arranged
“Cherries” and Hoagy Carmichael’s soulful “Skylark,” on which
Thomas Heflin’s meticulous trumpet sets the compass.
Brown, performing with an orchestra that
exists only in his headphones and imagination, is brilliant on “Scenes,” which
was inspired by James Agee’s poem, Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and its
classical depiction by Samuel Barber (I like this one much better). The orchestra is
suitably impish on “Martha Stewart . . .” (strapping solos by Thompson,
Holloway, tenor Bill Scarlett, baritone Tom Johnson, trombonist Tom Lundberg) and closes
on a carefree Dixieland-ish note (complete with tuba and banjo, courtesy of Eric Seay and
Larry Vincent) with “Cherries,” part of a suite commissioned by Ron Horn for his
wife, Cathy, the whole of which is titled “Broadway Is Great but I Can’t Do
Without My Cathy.”
The KJO’s earlier album, The Music of Donald
Brown, was quite impressive, and so is this one. “As with anything of
value,” Thompson writes, ”the music on this disc represents considerable
sacrifice. Nothing worth having is ever free, and nothing worth achieving is ever
easy.” A Year in the Life of the Band... is well worth whatever sacrifices in
time and money it took to produce, and it’s worth everyone else’s time and
effort to acquire a copy and listen.
==========================
The Daily Beacon
by Nate Arthur
The band sounds like they popped en masse and wailing
from the womb of a generous muse... They have a rhythm section so solid, yet swinging,
they don't know whether to grease them up or bolt them down.
==========================
KJO on its way up in the jazz world
The Oak Ridger
by Nancy England
If you were at the Bijou Theater on June 22, 2001, in
years to come you'll be able to say you caught the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra on the way up.
It's got to be only a matter of time before this group becomes a household name in the
jazz world.....
It boils down to two dominant aspects: the brilliant
talent and drive of the leader, Vance Thompson; and the equally brilliant cohesion of 17
top performers.....
A hallmark of the KJO is its cohesiveness, welded
together by mutual respect and admiration, and focused on a mutual goal. It shows.
==========================
East Tennessee Jazz Society
Newsletter
by Bob Heintz
IT WAS A GRAND NIGHT FOR
SWINGING
What makes an orchestra or a band?
Along with that, what makes a great concert?
Actually, quite a lot of things---
Tones.
Textures.
Colors.
Voicing.
Material.
Acoustics.
Talent.
Virtuosity.
And camaraderie.
And, of course, desire.
Probably even more
But this is not about just an orchestra or a
band.
Or just about a concert.
It's about an entity. A totality. A whole.
And perfection. Flawless. Single mindedly with intensity and integrity.
At least to these eyes and ears.
It's the no hit game. A grand slam. Running the rack in 9 ball. A hole in one.
It's about the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra.
And the Bijou Theater.
And Friday, June 22.
And 2001.
Seventeen guys and a gal, pausing prior to a
trip to musically conquer Europe, playing and singing their posteriors off for a full
house of enthusiastic devotees of whatever this thing is that's called Jazz. Big band
Jazz. Foot stomping Jazz. Exciting screaming Jazz. Whaling, cooking Jazz. Their names are
familiar—Heflin, Wyatt, Cox, and Spirko. Swann, Brown and, of course, Holloway and
Hough. And Lundberg and McDougall. And another Wyatt, and Mann and Tucker and Johnson and
King. And Scarlett, musical mentor for many of those mentioned. And Thompson, the tall guy
with the vision, and the sense of humor, and the horns, and the presence. And Ms. Crowe
giving voice to Strayhorn's poignant Day Dream, once sung by the great Ella at the Grand
Duke's funeral. And just one Hell of a night of great music. Wonderful music. Inspiring
Music. Swinging music. By seventeen plus one who are committed to a common cause, a common
purpose. Who care about each other and what they do, and how they do it. Professionally.
Musically. And otherwise. In fact, every way wise. And that's what this is all about.
I bade them Bon Voyage.
I'm darn sure they'll take no prisoners! |
Metro
Pulse
by Jonathan B. Frey
A year in the life is the CD we've
been waiting for from the KJO. Last year's One for the Team! may've been sorta fun,
what with its sporty themes, but it can't hold a candle to the performances here.
Culled from a 2001 European tour and local
recording dates, the tunes herein are full of diversity and verve, from the contemporary
opening cut, "Angst," through to the Dixieland-like last, "Life is Just a
Bowl of Cherries."
On KJO Director Vance Thompson's
original "Angst," the band flies dangerously low, driving the tune's insistent
yet shifty arc. In addition to Jimmy Mann's fine solo on tenor,
check out Bill Swann (piano) and Keith Brown (drums) tangling, giving no
quarter. "Man, What a Beautiful Day," an infectious Thompson melody, follows as
a welcome contrast, granting manageable pace and introspective solos from Mark Tucker
on soprano sax and Thompson on flugelhorn.
Added to the Euro tour tunes are some
wonderful locally recorded cuts, including Donald Brown on his original
"Scenes from Knoxville" and irrepressible Dan Trudell (Hammond B-3 organ)
on "Dig Uncle Will," where the mutual affinity of the band for the Hammond and
vice versa is palpable.
Not content, the CD closes with the
uncontainably swinging "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries," with Larry Vincent
doing his Johnny St. Cyr best on banjo and Eric Seay on tuba. From the driving
crescendo that opens this CD to the last banjo chord on the final cut, this one's all
gristle.
==========================
Cadenzas
by Marvin Stamm
The performance with the KJO took place in the concert
hall at the University of Tennessee. The band was excellent, and the rhythm section,
comprised of pianist Bill Swann, bassist Rusty Holloway and drummer Keith Brown, was
exceptional. There were also excellent soloists throughout among who were altoist Don
Aliquo, tenor players Bill Scarlett and Jimmy Mann and of course, leader Vance Thompson.
All the section work was tight and swinging, and the brass was “happening,”
especially the trombones. The band’s performance was exciting, and their library,
mostly written by Vance, was a pleasure to listen to – very musical and swingin’
hard!
The band performed my music beautifully – two new
pieces by Greg Pascuzzi, an arrangement of my composition, Samba du Nancy, written
for my wife, and an original that Greg wrote for the 2002 ITG Conference, Psalmus,
both were quite exciting. Jack Cortner’s chestnut, Secret Love was given
special treatment as was Jerry Ascione’s beautiful rendering of My Foolish Heart
and Jack Cooper’s excellent Alone Together. I also performed Vance’s
beautiful arrangement of Hoagy Carmichael’s Skylark. It was a wonderful
concert – great music with great players!
==========================
Delta Airlines Sky Magazine
by Wayne Bledsoe
The Knoxville Jazz Orchestra can pin you to the wall with
its powerful brass and astonishing arrangements.
==========================
Cadence Magazine
The Music of Donald Brown
by Jack Bowers
The music of Donald Brown was new to me, as was the
Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, and I must say I am delighted to have made their acquaintance.
Brown, who is evidently something of a jazz legend in the Knoxville area, is not only an
excellent writer, but his compositions, orchestrated by trumpeter Vance Thompson, are
exceedingly well played by the one-year-old KJO.
==========================
52nd Street Jazz Review
The Music of Donald Brown
by Don Williamson
I shouldn't have been surprised at the high level of
musicianship when I received for review The Music Of Donald Brown by the Knoxville
Jazz Orchestra. One thing I've learned is to cast aside preconceptions when listening to
any jazz group. Under the leadership of a Knoxville native who spent some time in Chicago
as well, Vance Thompson, the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra sizzles with excitement as it
performs his complex and engaging arrangements.
In other words, the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra--even though
its first CD is self-produced and even though its members perform without pay--is of the
highest caliber. Frankly, it rivals the output of some of the better-known jazz bands. full review
==========================
The Music of Donald Brown
The Knoxville News Sentinel
by Wayne Bledsoe
That Knoxvillians are lucky enough to have
Donald Brown and have a band of this quality both working in town is nothing short of
amazing. Brown writes complex music that is beguilingly listenable and the band pulls off
each song with joyous aplomb.
The orchestra expands the unusual chord
structures and progressions that seem so concise on piano or in small groups, but it
retains the drama, emotional intimacy and humanity that marks Brown's most ingratiating
work.
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