Bob Mintzer Big Band - For the Moment

[GA Russell]

I haven't heard anything from Bob Mintzer in maybe ten years. I'm curious about this one because quality-wise I don't know what to expect.

Bob Mintzer Big Band's

"For the Moment":

New MCG Jazz CD Due June 19

Guests on Brazilian-Themed Session Include

Chico Pinheiro, Russell Ferrante, Alex Acuna, Peter Erskine

May 29, 2012

The Grammy Award-winning Bob Mintzer Big Band has explored diverse styles of music in its illustrious 25-year recording history -- from New York and Afro-Cuban to Count Basie and John Coltrane. On the band's new MCG Jazz CD, For the Moment, which is scheduled for release June 19, saxophonist/composer/arranger/bandleader Mintzer puts the spotlight on Brazilian music.

While some of the tunes are directly from the Brazilian songbook -- "Corcovado" by Antonio Carlos Jobim, "Berimbau" by Baden Powell, and two newer tunes by Chico Pinheiro -- others "merely make reference to rhythmical grooves from various regions of the country," says Mintzer. "This becomes the springboard for what I most love to do: write for big band in a way that establishes a focus and then breaks free of stylization." The leader's own finely crafted originals include "Aha," a tune originally conceived for the Yellowjackets that's set to a surging Pernambucan baião, and paeans to Ouro Preto, the colonial town in Minas Gerais, and the northeastern city of Recife, where he has visited.

Produced by MCG's Marty Ashby and arranged by Mintzer, For the Moment features guest artist Chico Pinheiro, the rising star guitarist/composer from São Paulo who's been collaborating with Mintzer for the last several years. "Chico is a fantastic instrumentalist," says Mintzer, "and his writing is subtle and intricate, all-encompassing and fresh-sounding, with Brazilian lyricism and the complexity of jazz."

Other special guests are pianist Russell Ferrante, Mintzer's longtime colleague in the Yellowjackets; percussionist Alex Acuña; and drummer Peter Erskine ("He has had so much experience playing with large jazz ensembles, and he knows better than anyone how to shape the music").

Chico Pinheiro and Bob Mintzer. Rear: Lincoln Goines and Peter Erskine.

After a long relationship with the DMP label that produced 13 albums, Mintzer connected with Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in 2004. The Big Band debuted with Live at MCG and followed up with Old School, New Lessons (2006) and Swing Out (2008), all of which featured Kurt Elling.

The lifelong New Yorker, who's considered one of the tenor saxophonists to come out of the school of New York players in the 1970s (also including Michael Brecker, Bob Berg, Dave Liebman, and Steve Grossman), and whose big band dates to 1983, when the Brecker brothers asked him to put together an ensemble for their club Seventh Avenue South, has been based in Los Angeles since 2008. He lives in the former house of composer Arnold Schoenberg (his first L.A. residence, 1934-1936), and is the recipient of the Buzz McCoy-endowed chair of jazz studies at the University of Southern California.

Mintzer continues to tour with the Yellowjackets (which he joined in 1990), does workshops all over the world, performs with his New York big band, and serves as a guest conductor/soloist with college and pro bands. But he has found time to assemble an L.A. big band that plays regularly at Vitello's in Studio City.

"The challenge is always to get the most out of whatever situation," he notes. "You can make three players sound huge, and with the right players who are tuned to subtlety and color, all things are possible. The writers who thought that way, Ogerman, Brookmeyer, George Russell, Maria Schneider, Gil Evans, that's the music that resonates with me the most."

The Bob Mintzer Big Band appears at Vitello's in Studio City 6/14-15, and at the Blue Note in Tokyo (with guests Chico Pinheiro and Kurt Elling) 6/20-23. Mintzer will also be touring with the Yellowjackets this summer, appearing at Birdland, NYC, 6/26-30; Freihofer's Jazz Festival in Saratoga Springs, NY, 7/1; several European festivals in July; and Scullers in Boston 8/3-4.

Web Site:

www.bobmintzer.com

YouTube:

Bob Mintzer Meets Chico Pinheiro

Not All Big Bands Are Created Equal

Writing for Brass in the Big Band on For the Moment

[John Tapscott]

Don't know about this one, but I've never really warmed up to Mintzer's composing/arranging. I have 4 of his CD's, I think. But as they say, your mileage may vary.

[golfcrazy1984]

I think Bob is a killer saxophonist and composer. I love his playing, but really could never get into his compositions.

[BillF]

Will be seeing him on 7th July at Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester leading the student big band. The evening starts with a performance of Mintzer's saxophone quartet.

Should be interesting!

[GA Russell]

I'm enjoying this album, with some small reservations.

There are a number of composers, but Mintzer provided all of the arrangements. There's not a single chart I don't like, but the album reminds me a great deal of a Gordon Goodwin album from ca. 2003 called XXL. I liked that one too, but I think it won a Grammy, and I wonder if Mintzer had listened to it before writing his charts.

The band is very brassy, but lacks the fire of Buddy Rich's PJ band for example. On two tracks Chico Pinheiro provides very Joao Gilberto-like vocals.

This was recorded at the Manchester Craftsman's Guild in Pittsburgh in September, 2011, but I don't think that it was a live concert. I could hear no audience.

[Free For All]

I'm enjoying this album, with some small reservations.

There are a number of composers, but Mintzer provided all of the arrangements. There's not a single chart I don't like, but the album reminds me a great deal of a Gordon Goodwin album from ca. 2003 called XXL. I liked that one too, but I think it won a Grammy, and I wonder if Mintzer had listened to it before writing his charts.

The band is very brassy, but lacks the fire of Buddy Rich's PJ band for example. On two tracks Chico Pinheiro provides very Joao Gilberto-like vocals.

This was recorded at the Manchester Craftsman's Guild in Pittsburgh in September, 2011, but I don't think that it was a live concert. I could hear no audience.

MCG is a "concert studio"- a recording studio with audience seating. It's a really nice space in which to play. There did seem to be an audience present- I could hear applause (in my headphones) after a couple solos, but not at the end of tunes, so there must have been some editing.

GA, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree about the comparison to Gordon Goodwin. I don't hear any similarities between the two- to my ears Mintzer's harmonic/melodic/rhythmic content is much more interesting than GG's. GG's music to me sounds like a cartoon soundtrack- entertaining but not particularly substantial. He has some fantastic musicians in his band, but his writing doesn't do much for me. I definitely don't think Mintzer is borrowing from him (again, just my opinion).

This isn't my favorite Mintzer side (although he did write a great arrangement of "For All We Know") but it still is infinitely more interesting to me than anything of GG. Just my opinion.

[GA Russell]

FFA, I know GG only from the one album. It uses electric bass and its songs are varied. One song in particular as I recall was cartoonish, as you say, and was a tribute to Raymond Scott.

As I was listening to this Mintzer record for the first time, it kept reminding me of something I haven't heard in years. Then the last song really hit me as borrowed from the GG album. Of course I could be wrong, but this album definitely reminds me of something I've got in a box somewhere. If not the GG, maybe it will come to me.

Of course I yield to your expertise in such matters!

[Free For All]

Of course I yield to your expertise in such matters!

Well, it's all just opinion and I don't claim to be an expert. I have a lot of respect for your opinions as well my friend!

[GA Russell]

I see that this is now available at Spotify.