E.E.R.
Kenny Wheeler, A Long Time Ago: Music for Brass Ensemble and
Soloists (63:47); ECM 1691, 1999
ECM Records
Postfach 600 331
81203 München, Germany
Cyberhome: www.ecmrecords.com
Kenny Wheeler's records for the most part have featured small groups
dotted with big names from the ECM stable: Dave Holland, Jack
DeJohnette, Keith Jarrett, John Abercrombie, Peter Erskine, Bill
Frisell, and so on. Here the Canadian-born trumpeter/composer
recruits a brass ensemble from his adopted home, England. There are
four trumpets, two trombones, two bass trombones, and even a
conductor, and none of the names will be familiar to most American
listeners. Wheeler restricts himself to fluegelhorn and is supported
by a rhythm section consisting of John Taylor on piano, John
Parricelli on guitar, and no one on drums. Taylor has appeared with
Wheeler many times before; Parricelli is a new face, and his
Abercrombie-like touch fits right in.
"The Long Time Ago Suite" opens the record and clocks in at
nearly thirty-two minutes. Lush brass passages alternate with
intimate solo spotlights for trombone, fluegelhorn, guitar, and
piano. The effect is akin to a split screen or a parallel drama
unfolding at opposite ends of a theater stage. One might view it
simply as Wheeler's classical and jazz influences attempting to
cohabitate. The brass sections are legit chamber music; the solos
flow with a light, loose, Wheeler-trademark swing. At times the
dynamics verge on extreme, with the solos sounding almost hushed
compared to the hugeness of the brass ensemble. But when the band
drops out and John Taylor goes it alone, he manages to fill up the
big, empty space and propel the music forward, which is no easy task.
On the heels of this very long opener, the remaining
selections go by rather quickly. The two shortest tracks do not
include guitar and piano. These are "One Plus Three" (Versions 1 and
2), a minimalistic, dissonant fragment featuring Wheeler and three
trumpets; and "Going for Baroque," an explicit nod to J.S. Bach with
a wonderful trick ending. A beautiful trombone chorale begins the
grimly titled "Ballad for a Dead Child." Of particular interest to
longtime Wheeler fans is an updated arrangement of "Gnu Suite," which
originally appeared on Wheeler's 1975 album Gnu High (ECM).
The first section of "Eight Plus Three/Alice My Dear" is
rather ingenious: Taylor plays agitated trills while trumpets sustain
chords and a single trombone improvises over them. Then the bones
sustain the chords while a trumpet takes over the improvisation.
Bones and trumpets then sustain together, with single-note piano
flurries above. Finally bones, trumpets, and piano all sustain the
chords while the guitar riffs away on top. The track then segues
artlessly into "Alice My Dear," which is more uptempo, with piano and
bass trombones doubling a catchy low-register riff.
It's fascinating to hear Wheeler's unique harmonic vocabulary
interpreted by a full horn section. Individual voices attain a
clarity not really possible on the piano. At times Wheeler's
harmonies sound almost pre-modern in their strangeness. The absence
of drums heightens the strangeness while endowing the music with an
unusually relaxed time feel.
~David R. Adler
personnel: Kenny Wheeler, fluegelhorn; John Taylor, piano; John
Parricelli, guitar; Derek Watkins, John Barclay, Henry Lowther, Ian
Hamer, trumpets; Pete Beachill, Mark Nightingale, trombones; Sarah
Williams, Dave Stewart, bass trombones; Tony Faulkner, conductor.
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