I was thinking about including reedist Marty Ehrlich's "News on the Rail," Palmetto, in a post on good modern big band disks I've encountered lately, but then I noticed it's ONLY a sextet. It just sounds like a big band, probably in part because of the multi-instrumental duty the players take on (Howard Johnson takes honors by playing baritone sax, tuba and bass clarinet, with standout bari work on "Keeper of the Flame"), which gives this group an unusual, as well as full, sound.
I'd rate it creatively with Jamie Baum's CD "Moving Forward, Standing Still", which I really like, except more toward the bass end of things instrumentally and more toward the outside musically, although not excessively so. Think Eric Dolphy and Mingus and you're close. But there are places where it neo-swings as well like "Seeker's Delight," where James Zollar (trumpet and flugelhorn) gets in some quality solo time. The disk is laced with interesting sounds, like what appears to be interplay between a harmonica and the tuba on the title track. The former, I suspect, is pianist James Weidman doing double duty on the melodica, not something you often hear in a jazz recording. In an overall sense, the drums and bass seem to be more part of the front line than just a rhythm section. You're not going to listen to this and think you've heard it all before.
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