The Gerald Wilson Orchestra's "In My Time," Mack Avenue, is exciting modern big band music with great ensemble playing and prominent solos played like jazz should be played in 2006 instead of the '30s.
"Sax Chase" is so hot I feel like I need asbestos earmuffs to listen to it. Especially notable is the three-part suite "The Diminished Triangle," with its middle section, "Ray's Vision at the U," making use of "In a Sentimental Mood" in a way that drags the blues out of it and featuring some wonderful piano from Renee Rosnes (who's great on Miles Davis' "So What," too, and really throughout). The closing interlude, "Blues for Manhattan," swings like Tarzan and has wonderful horn solos by Sean Jones on trumpet and Ron Blake tenor sax (like Rosnes, also excellent elsewhere in the session), as well as Russell Malone on electric guitar.
The leader is a legend, his arrangements are fab, the musicians are among the best of today and there's not a subpar track on the disk. Another Xmas gift from my buddy Carl Abernathy, who's got good taste except for his Jimmy Buffett fetish. (Inside joke, I made that up.)
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