{"id":14799,"date":"2022-08-13T11:42:55","date_gmt":"2022-08-13T16:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=14799"},"modified":"2022-08-13T11:48:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-13T16:48:00","slug":"milwaukee-jazz-orchestra-something-new-in-a-grand-old-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=14799","title":{"rendered":"Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra: Something New in a Grand Old Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Saxophonist-bandleader Curt Hanrahan ( standing, far right) conducts the Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra. Photo by Leiko Napoli<\/em><\/p>\n

The Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra will perform an album-release concert for Take it All<\/em> at 6 p.m. Sunday Aug. 21 at the Racine Theater Guild, 2519 Northwestern Ave., Racine. For advance tickets, visit: MJO tickets<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Is the jazz big band a relic of the swing era? Well, there\u2019s still power in numbers, and wider musical vistas to explore. Despite inherent costliness, the art form has remained vital and evolving with such distinctive ensembles as The Maria Schneider Orchestra, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, The Mingus Big Band, Darcy James Argue\u2019s Secret Society, John Beasley\u2019s MONK\u2019estra and The Vanguard Orchestra. The Brian Lynch Big Band won a Grammy award in 2020, led by the Milwaukee-raised trumpeter-composer-band leader.<\/p>\n

Add the Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra to that list, with their auspicious second album, Take it All. <\/em>It reveals a full plumbing of orchestral resources with both advanced contemporary aesthetics and catchy grooves aplenty. The MJO hardly emerged out of the blue. For 12 years, orchestra leader Curt Hanrahan led the UW-Milwaukee Jazz Ensemble, and the annual Woody Herman Jazz Festival, before retiring in 2017.<\/p>\n

At the core of the new orchestra\u2019s personnel is the synchronistic 30-plus-year-old jazz fusion band OPUS (which will open the Racine concert for the MJO). Between Hanrahan and his brother, drummer\/co-bandleader Warren Hanrahan, they\u2019ve performed with numerous big bands of the past, including Arturo Sandoval, Glenn Miller, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Frank Sinatra Jr., Harry Connick Jr., Lawrence Welk and Woody Herman\u2019s band led by Frank Tiberi.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love all big bands and have observed, listened and learned from many of them but my main influence has always been the benevolent Woody Herman,\u201d Hanrahan says. \u201cThe Milwaukee native was on the road for close to 50 years with various bands and \u2018Herds\u2019 and produced some of the most iconic and legendary jazz musicians, composers\/arrangers that this American art form has to offer. Our jazz festivals are modeled after his Woody Herman\/Sister Fabian scholarship and educational programs that began in the mid to late sixties.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Milwaukee-born clarinetist-saxophonist Woody Herman. Courtesy Jazz Journal<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps there\u2019s hometown bias in Hanrahan\u2019s affection for Herman\u2019s \u201cThundering Herds,\u201d but that big-band leader always forged bridges between swing orchestras and modern jazz. Jazz historian Ted Gioia writes, “Herman’s evolution from sweet music to traditional jazz to modern jazz is almost unprecedented in the history of music. For Woody Herman is best understood\u2026as a catalyst. His talent lay in enabling \u2013 spurring those around him to their deepest creative currents, inspiring them, letting them ‘loose’.\u201d Herman\u2019s second Herd debuted the \u201cFour Brothers\u201d band, with a section of three tenor saxophones and one baritone, which provided a template for what would soon be called cool jazz.<\/p>\n

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Album cover courtesy Spotify\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Accordingly, The MJO projects through a forward-looking lense, with arrangements that facilitate rather than burden soloists and ensemble flair. The title tune \u201cTake It All\u201d opens with short phrases building suspense, then layers into dissonant yet alluring harmonies with a complex series of snapping ensemble accents. Tenor saxophonist Kyle Seifert delivers a measured solo rumination until the second chorus\u2019s rising intensity driven by the big ensemble. Trumpeter David Katz provides deft, warm counterpoint, a la Thad Jones, to a sumptuous climax.<\/p>\n

The second tune, \u201cWe All Love Eddie Harris,\u201d reflects saxophonist Harris\u2019s penchant for a cool but funky vamp that allows sassy rhythmic licks from Seifert, and quotes liberally from Harris\u2019s swaggering, interval-skipping jazz classic \u201cFreedom Jazz Dance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ensuing material ranges from a tricky Oscar Peterson adaptation of the vintage finger-snapper \u201cSweet Georgia Brown\u201d to \u201cCovidity,\u201d a Hanrahan piece reflecting the \u201cangst of the pandemic era,\u201d yet inspired by Elvin Jones\u2019s Live at the Lighthouse<\/em> album, a\u00a0blazing hallmark of post-Coltrane jazz.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouljourner\u201d closes the album with a transporting swirl of woodwinds detouring into a gritty jazz-fusion guitar solo from Steve Lewandowski. The MJO demonstrates how bigger is better when the outcome embraces a panoply of compelling moods and stylistic effects, allowing the listener to \u201ctake it all\u201d in.<\/p>\n

For information on the MJO, visit: https:\/\/www.mjojazz.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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This article was previously published in The Shepherd Express<\/em>: MJO article<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saxophonist-bandleader Curt Hanrahan ( standing, far right) conducts the Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra. Photo by Leiko Napoli The Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra will perform an album-release concert for Take it All at 6 p.m. Sunday Aug. 21 at the Racine Theater Guild, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1514,1507,1516,309,1513,1517,1515,1506,1242,1505,433,503,1519,1518,1520,1512,1521,1112,340,1509,1508,1510,1511],"class_list":["post-14799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-www-kevernacular-com","tag-cool-jazz","tag-curt-hanrahan","tag-eddie-harris","tag-elvin-jones","tag-four-brothers","tag-freedom-jazz-dance","tag-kyle-seifert","tag-lincoln-center-jazz-orchestra","tag-maria-schneider-orchestra","tag-milwaukee-jazz-orchestra","tag-opus","tag-oscar-peterson","tag-steve-lewandowski","tag-sweet-georgia-brown","tag-take-it-all","tag-ted-gioia","tag-thad-jones","tag-the-brian-lynch-big-band","tag-the-shepherd-express","tag-warren-hanrahan","tag-woody-herman","tag-woody-herman-jazz-festival","tag-woody-herman-thundering-herds"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hJWE-3QH","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14799"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14814,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14799\/revisions\/14814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}