Rituals (Double Moon)
Jim McNeeley/Frankfurt Radio Big Band featuring Chris Potter
Released January 2022
DownBeat Five-Star Review
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l_p-y6D-5z7CdiXKFUh-io_sSXuKdSvwY
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0OUmiTtBH3r0369gH70qG9?si=1qoSelPoR7ygvf5ePepW5g
About:
“Le Sacre du Printemps” (The Rite of Spring) by Igor
Stravinsky is regarded as a key work of classical music of the 20th century.
Due to its rhythmic and tonal structures, interspersed with numerous
dissonances, it created turmoil in the audience at its world premiere in Paris
in 1913, but was then able to quickly establish itself as a central work in the
repertoire of concert halls.
With a tribute to this work, the hr Big Band, which plays here as the Frankfurt
Radio Big Band, and the American tenor saxophonist Chris Potter, fills
essential parts of their new CD “Rituals”.
“The work was commissioned by the Alte Oper Frankfurt, which held a
Stravinsky Festival in 2013,” Olaf Stötzler recalled, producer of the hr Big
Band. “At that time there was a music festival around a central work of
classical music, in this case ‘Le Sacre du Printemps’.
The idea was to commission Jim McNeely to compose this work for Chris Potter.
However, it is not a jazz version of *Le Sacre du Printemps’, but instead a new
composition. It was inspired by the sound language of ‘Le Sacre du Printemps’.”
The performance was a huge success, which is why Potter and the hr Big Band
decided to record the whole thing again in a studio. With plenty of verve and
aplomb, the hr Big Band glides through the complex rhythmic and harmonious
score that McNeely composed in the spirit of Stravinsky.
“McNeely didn’t just take a theme from Stravinsky and set it differently,
but instead created a new composition,” Stötzler emphasized. “But you can
hear that it is clearly inspired by the sound language of ‘Le Sacre du
Printemps’. That’s why McNeely extended the standard line-up of the big band to
include a French horn, a harp and percussion. In addition, he composed an
additional movement called ‘Rebirth’, which does not even exist in the
original.”
With Chris Potter, one of the best contemporary saxophonists could be won over
for the role of soloist. With a unique sonorous tone and inexhaustible
inventiveness, he actually seems to play as if his life depended on it.
“Chris Potter is the voice of this spring sacrifice,” Olaf Stötzler
explained. “He embodies this character, which is why we chose a soloist in
the first place. Musical representation of this spring sacrifice is a mammoth
task. He really plays all the time, and that’s a challenge for which we wanted
to have one of the best.”
If you already have someone like Chris Potter in the studio, then his music
should also play an important role. That’s why the six-part “Rituals”
are followed by four pieces from Potter’s catalog, which McNeely rearranged for
the large orchestral context. “Dawn” and “Wine Dark Sea”
are from his album “The Sirens” (ECM 2013), “The Wheel” is
from “Underground” (Sunnyside 2006) and “Okinawa” is
included on the live album “This Will Be” (Storyville 2001). In them,
the musicians of the hr Big Band, such as Steffen Weber, Tony Lakatos,
Heinz-Dieter Sauerborn and Axel Schlosser, also have the opportunity to perform
as soloists. They once again clearly show how well the collaboration with the
American jazz star works and where the strengths of the hr Big Band are.
“Thanks to our daily interaction, we have a very good ensemble sound and
we attach great importance to it,” Olaf Stötzler emphasized. “The
strength of the hr Big Band is that we can offer a lot of doubling in the
saxophone set. There are many woodwind instruments that are not to be found in
a typical big band. It is precisely these orchestral colors that Jim McNeely
needs for his music. We are willing to experiment anyway, and the musicians are
grateful for the chance to do it.”
The album “Rituals” is the best example of the fact that the joy of experimentation
can also be accompanied by fun and impressive sound clarity.
Track Listing:
1. Rituals – Adoration I (Jim McNeely) 6.58
2. Rituals – Adoration II (Jim McNeely) 5:12
3. Rituals – Adoration III (Jim McNeely) 2:16
4. Rituals – Sacrifice I (Jim McNeely) 7:40
5. Rituals – Sacrifice II (Jim McNeely) 6:36
6. Rituals – Rebirth (Jim McNeely) 4:21
7. Dawn (Chris Potter) 7:46
8. The Wheel (Chris Potter) 8:45
9. Wine Dark Sea (Chris Potter) 8:32
10. Okinawa (Chris Potter) 10:22
Personnel:
Frankfurt Radio Big Band
Jim McNeely: conductor
Axel Schlosser, Frank Wellert, Thomas Vogel, Martin Auer: trumpet
Günter Bollmann, Peter Feil, Manfred Honetschläger (bass), Christian Jaksjö: trombone
Heinz-Dieter Sauerborn (alto), Tony Lakatosm(tenor), Steffen Weber (tenor), Rainer Heute (baritone): saxophone
Peter Reiter: piano
Martin Scales: guitar
Thomas Heidepriem: bass
Jean Paul Höchstädter: drums
Chris Potter: saxophone
Oliver Leicht: saxophone
Christine Chapman: flugelhorn (6)
Miroslava Stareychinska: harp (6)
Claus Kiesselbach: percussion (6)
Recorded February 10 – 13, 2015, at Hörfunkstudio II, Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt am Main
Produced by Hessischer Rundfunk
Producer Frankfurt Radio Big Band: Olaf Stötzler
Producer Double Moon Records: Volker Dueck
Recording Producer (Recording/Editing/Mixing): Axel Gutzler
Recording Engineer: Michael Wayszak
Mastered October 2021 by Holger Siedler / THS-Studio
Cover Photo by Jean Paul Höchstädter
Design by Natasja Wallenburg
Review:
Rituals is the realization of McNeeley’s vision for Igor Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite Of Spring) through the lens of his chosen machination, a concerto for the Frankfurt Radio Big Band, with saxophonist Chris Potter as the soloist. A jazz version has been attempted many times before, but none as encapsulating of the complex harmonies and textures, the grandiosity and, yes — the terror — of the original. It’s as if Stravinsky himself reorchestrated his magnum opus for big band, yet through McNeeley it transitions undeniably to jazz, with its relentless yet grooving energy, supercharged by the band’s urgent and flawless execution and Potter’s characteristically incandescent improvising. Surely this is what Gunther Schuller had in mind when he espoused a “third stream” of music that was neither classical nor jazz.
Gary Fukushima (DownBeat)