MARIA SCHNEIDER ORCHESTRA — Sky Blue (2007) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Maria Schneider ventures deeper than ever into herself for this project, in which four of the five compositions were commissions from various prestigious organizations. Jazz usually doesn't operate like this, but one suspects that in the increasingly hostile future, commissions may be the only way in which high-minded big-band music will be able to be written, much as in the classical field. The results are often beautiful, uncommercial, and quite inward, for Schneider has her own feelings for sonority, time and pulse, sometimes doing away with the latter altogether in the meditative cores of some of these pieces. The introduction for the autobiographical "The Pretty Road" imaginatively evokes the ethos of a short road trip toward a Midwestern small town -- Schneider's hometown, Windom, MN -- with Ingrid Jensen's gentle flugelhorn and Luciana Souza's vocalizing overlooking the homely texture. At one point toward the middle of the piece, everything stops, and Schneider just lets the orchestra drift in idealized memory, with blissful digital-delayed effects adding to the realization that this happened a long time ago. Pat Metheny would understand this music completely. "Aires de Lando" runs through abrupt changes in tempo, mood, and especially meter (the ramifications of the latter are too knotty to even contemplate in this space). The gorgeous "Rich's Piece" finds Rich Perry intoning meditatively on tenor sax as Schneider's orchestra plays in a soft-textured way that barely cloaks the dense harmonic writing. She learned very well how to write this way from the master, Gil Evans, but the sound is all her own, a feminine counterpart to Evans' edgier surfaces. In "Cerulean Skies," nearly 22 minutes long, members of the band imitate various species of birds (Schneider is a passionate bird watcher) and an actual feathered friend, a cerulean warbler, turns up on tape near the end of the piece. Again, Schneider stops the action for a meditative interlude midway before ambling onward. And Sky Blue closes out on a contemplative note, with soprano saxophonist Steve Wilson nimbly imitating birdsong near the close. This CD won the INDIE music awards for Best Jazz Album, was nominated in 2007 for a Grammy award as Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, the track "Cerulean Skies" was nominated Best Instrumental Composition, and was declared a masterpiece by Downbeat Magazine.  Richard S. Ginell
Tracklist :
1    The 'Pretty' Road 13:23
Soloist [Flugelhorn, Trumpet With Electronics] – Ingrid Jensen
2    Aires De Lando 9:56
Soloist [Clarinet] – Scott Robinson
3    Rich' Piece 9:29
Soloist [Tenor Saxophone] – Rich Perry
4    Cerulean Skies 21:55
Soloist [Accordion] – Gary Versace
Soloist [Alto Saxophone] – Charles Pillow
Soloist [Tenor Saxophone] – Donny McCaslin
5    Sky Blue 8:06
Soloist [Soprano Saxophone] – Steve Wilson
Credits :
Accordion – Gary Versace (tracks: 1, 2, 4)
Alto Saxophone, Clarinet, Piccolo Flute, Flute [Alto, Bass], Flute – Charles Pillow
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute, Flute [Alto] – Steve Wilson
Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet – Scott Robinson
Bass – Jay Anderson
Bass Trombone, Trombone [Contrabass] – George Flynn
Cajón, Handclaps [Palmas] – Gonzalo Grau (tracks: 2)
Cajón, Handclaps [Palmas], Percussion – Jon Wikan (tracks: 2)
Composed By, Mixed By, Producer – Maria Schneider
Drums – Clarence Penn
Guitar – Ben Monder
Percussion – Gonzalo Grau (tracks: 4), Jon Wikan (tracks: 3, 4)
Piano – Frank Kimbrough
Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet – Donny McCaslin
Tenor Saxophone, Flute – Rich Perry
Trombone – Keith O'Quinn, Marshall Gilkes, Ryan Keberle
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Ingrid Jensen, Jason Carder, Laurie Frink, Tony Kadleck
Vocals – Luciana Souza (tracks: 1, 4)

MARIA SCHNEIDER ORCHESTRA — Concert in the Garden (2004) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Concert in the Garden is orchestral jazz great Maria Schneider's proudest achievement and a revelation for fans of big band, as well as jazz subgenres beyond. Though she proved with earlier discs, such as 1994's bright, thoughtful Evanescence, that her ability to transport moods and atmospheres into fully recognizable and deeply meaningful musical whirls was more intricately developed than many current composers, the performances she teases from her musicians throughout Concert in the Garden are an even sturdier testament to a fierce talent. Audible are the skills she developed under the tutelage of Gil Evans: the title track simmers with complexity and evokes grand dramatic themes, though she frames them in frailty courtesy of the graceful intertwinings of accordionist Gary Versace and vocalist Luciana Souza. Souza imparts to-the-bone feeling despite (perhaps because of) a wordless performance. Deposited into the middle of the disc are "Three Romances" -- three separate works bound by a full heart and notable for their lightness and varied Brazilian-flavored harmonies. It is final composition, "Buleria, Solea y Rumba," however, that dazzles most brilliantly. Tenor Donny McCaslin's inspired solo grabs hold in a work limned in fiery flamenco forms, fusing it together until it is a flawless whole. Few who hear this piece will doubt it draws its own oxygen; fewer still will doubt the genius and beauty of its creator. Tammy La Gorce
Tracklist :
1    Concert In The Garden 11:57
Soloist, Accordion – Gary Versace
Soloist, Guitar – Ben Monder
Soloist, Piano – Frank Kimbrough
Three Romances    
2    Part 1 Choro Dançado 9:46
Soloist, Piano – Frank Kimbrough
Soloist, Tenor Saxophone – Rich Perry
3    Part 2 Pas De Deux 9:02
Soloist, Flugelhorn – Ingrid Jensen
Soloist, Soprano Saxophone – Charles Pillow
4    Part 3 Dança Ilusória 9:06
Soloist, Piano – Frank Kimbrough
Soloist, Trombone – Larry Farrell
5    Bulería, Soleá Y Rumba 18:24
Soloist, Flugelhorn – Greg Gisbert
Soloist, Tenor Saxophone – Donny McCaslin
Credits :
Accordion – Gary Versace (tracks: 1)
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute, Alto Flute, Bass Flute – Tim Ries
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute, Alto Flute, Oboe, English Horn – Charles Pillow
Baritone Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Contrabass Clarinet – Scott Robinson
Bass – Jay Anderson
Bass Trombone, Trombone [Contrabass] – George Flynn
Cajón – Gonzalo Grau (tracks: 5)
Cajón, Cajón [Quinto] – Jeff Ballard (tracks: 5)
Composed By, Conductor, Mixed By, Producer, Liner Notes, Executive-Producer – Maria Schneider
Drums – Clarence Penn
Guitar – Ben Monder
Lyrics By [Poem Printed On Booklet] – Octavio Paz
Pandeiro – Luciana Souza (tracks: 2)
Piano – Frank Kimbrough
Tenor Saxophone – Andy Middleton (tracks: 3, 4)
Tenor Saxophone, Flute – Rich Perry
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute – Donny McCaslin
Trombone – Keith O'Quinn, Larry Farrell, Pete McGuinness (tracks: 3, 4), Rock Ciccarone
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Greg Gisbert, Ingrid Jensen, Laurie Frink, Tony Kadleck
Voice – Luciana Souza (tracks: 1, 2, 5)

MARIA SCHNEIDER ORCHESTRA — The Thompson Fields (2015) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
1    Walking By Flashlight 5:01
Soloist, Alto Clarinet – Scott Robinson
2    The Monarch And The Milkweed 12:07
Soloist, Flugelhorn – Greg Gisbert
Soloist, Trombone – Marshall Gilkes
3    Arbiters Of Evolution 13:59
Soloist, Baritone Saxophone – Scott Robinson
Soloist, Tenor Saxophone – Donny McCaslin
4    The Thompson Fields 10:00
Soloist, Guitar – Lage Lund
Soloist, Piano – Frank Kimbrough
5    Home 7:45
Soloist, Tenor Saxophone – Rich Perry
6    Nimbus 9:31
Soloist, Alto Saxophone – Steve Wilson
7    A Potter's Song 5:29
Soloist, Accordion – Gary Versace
8    Lembrança 13:30
Soloist, Bass – Jay Anderson
Soloist, Trombone – Ryan Keberle
Credits :
Accordion – Gary Versace
Alto Saxophone, Sopranino Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute, Alto Flute – Steve Wilson
Alto Saxophone, Sopranino Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute, Alto Flute, Bass Flute, Piccolo Flute – Dave Pietro
Baritone Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Alto Clarinet, Clarinet – Scott Robinson
Bass – Jay Anderson
Bass Trombone – George Flynn
Conductor, Composed By, Producer, Mixed By – Maria Schneider
Drums – Clarence Penn
Guitar – Lage Lund
Percussion – Rogerio Boccato (tracks: 8)
Piano – Frank Kimbrough
Tenor Saxophone – Rich Perry
Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute – Donny McCaslin
Trombone – Keith O'Quinn, Marshall Gilkes, Ryan Keberle
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Augie Haas, Greg Gisbert, Mike Rodriguez, Tony Kadleck

MARIA SCHNEIDER ORCHESTRA — Data Lords (2020) 2CD | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Grammy-winning composer, bandleader, and NEA Jazz Master Maria Schneider is an artist and activist who controls virtually every aspect of her music production. Her long-standing opposition to big data companies and digital streaming has been well documented in articles, interviews, and congressional testimony. Since 2003, she has relied on the original crowdfunding label Artist Share to finance her 18-piece orchestra recordings -- Data Lords is the fifth. Over two discs and 11 compositions, this is a striking musical juxtaposition between Schneider's experiential perceptions of the natural world and the artificially mitigated representations of the digital one, offered as a cautionary warning.

Opener "A Word Lost" emerges with Frank Kimbrough's dark piano chords and Jay Anderson's arco bass playing around Ben Monder's rumbling, mournful electric guitar. Elegiac reeds and brass rise up and Rich Perry's tenor sax joins the guitarist in articulating the maelstrom. "Don't Be Evil" -- a reference to Google's original motto -- showcases Monder's spiky guitar contrasted with swirling brass, piano, and bass. "CQ CQ Is Anybody Out There" references ham radio and Morse code as early binary global communication tools. Her rhythms pulse, spelling out "SOS," "power," "greed," and the title phrase. Donny McCaslin's bluesy tenor pleads for human connection, but it's rebuffed by Greg Gisbert's electrified trumpet in a nightmarish meld of ethereal tension, dissonance, and murky ambience from the orchestra. On the title cut (commissioned by the Library of Congress), Schneider's canny use of tone and texture acts as an arbiter between soloists -- Mike Rodriguez on electronically enhanced trumpet and Dave Pietro on alto sax -- in offering a wonderfully wrought if musically violent depiction of a life-or-death street fight between humanity and AI.

Disc two emerges with sharp contrast to its predecessor in a harmonic and rhythmic languages Schneider's fans know well. "Sanzen," named for a Japanese Buddhist temple, is pastoral; its layered, graceful brass ushers in a minimal melody embellished gracefully by Gary Versace's tender, wandering accordion. Schneider wrote "Look Up" with trombonist Marshall Gilkes' emotionally resonant tone in mind. Using pianist Frank Kimbrough's expansive chromatic abilities, she creates a sunny, cinematic piece that celebrates the observer's embrace of the natural world. Set closer "The Sun Waited for Me," is the second of two works inspired by Ted Kooser's poetry (the other is the brief "Braided Together"). Its lilting melody is extended through solos by McCaslin on tenor, and Gilkes' trombone. It reveals limitless and unexpected possibility as reward for engaging and experiencing everyday life actively, directly, and simply. Through Schneider's musical vision, Data Lords portrays the exhausting polarities in our daily lives: While one aspires to pull at the fabric of our humanity, desiring to perfect it by enhancing, remaking, and replicating itself, the actual world of the real reaffirms and enhances our lives with restorative and transformational powers that can be experienced freely. Data Lords is a poignant and pointed jazz masterwork that adds weight and spiritual heft to our existential struggle.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
The Digital World    
1-1    A World Lost 9:42
Soloist, Guitar – Ben Monder
Soloist, Tenor Saxophone – Rich Perry
1-2    Don't Be Evil 13:38
Soloist, Bass – Jay Anderson
Soloist, Guitar – Ben Monder
Soloist, Piano – Frank Kimbrough
Soloist, Trombone – Ryan Keberle
1-3    CQ CQ, Is Anybody There? 10:18
Soloist, Tenor Saxophone – Donny McCaslin
Soloist, Trumpet – Greg Gisbert
1-4    Sputnik 8:10
Soloist, Baritone Saxophone – Scott Robinson
1-5        Data Lords 11:06
Soloist, Alto Saxophone – Dave Pietro
Soloist, Trumpet – Mike Rodriguez
Our Natural World    
2-1    Sanzenin 5:46
Soloist, Accordion – Gary Versace
2-2    Stone Song 5:43
Soloist, Soprano Saxophone – Steve Wilson
2-3    Look Up 9:05
Soloist, Piano – Frank Kimbrough
Soloist, Trombone – Marshall Gilkes
2-4    Braided Together 3:59
Soloist, Alto Saxophone – Dave Pietro
2-5    Bluebird 11:11
Soloist, Accordion – Gary Versace
Soloist, Alto Saxophone – Steve Wilson
2-6    The Sun Waited For Me 7:22
Soloist, Tenor Saxophone – Donny McCaslin
Soloist, Trombone – Marshall Gilkes
Credits :
Accordion – Gary Versace
Alto Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute, Alto Flute, Piccolo Flute – Dave Pietro
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute, Alto Flute – Steve Wilson
Bass – Jay Anderson
Bass Clarinet, Contrabass Clarinet, Baritone Saxophone – Scott Robinson
Bass Trombone – George Flynn
Composed By, Conductor – Maria Schneider
Drums, Percussion – Johnathan Blake
Guitar – Ben Monder
Piano – Frank Kimbrough
Tenor Saxophone – Rich Perry
Tenor Saxophone, Flute – Donny McCaslin
Trombone – Keith O'Quinn, Marshall Gilkes, Ryan Keberle
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Greg Gisbert, Mike Rodriguez, Nadje Noordhuis, Tony Kadleck