SEAN IMBODEN LARGE ENSEMBLE

COMMUNAL HEART

Sean Imboden, tenor & soprano saxophone/composer/arranger/bandleader.

Indianapolis-based saxophonist and composer, Sean Imboden is making his big band leader debut with this album.  He formed his 17-piece orchestra to capture the title of the ensemble’s album, Communal Heart.

“There’s an old adage among musicians.  It says: To make it a great gig, you have to have two out of three elements.  You want the money to be good, you want the music to be good, and you want the hang to be good.  I realized maybe there’s a fourth, if the audience is amazing that raises the experience for everyone,” Imboden says in his press package.

They open this album with an original tune called “Fire Spirit.”  The fire spits out of the arrangement during the Sean Imboden bold saxophone solo. It also features John Raymond on trumpet. The second song is “Dance of Inquiry.”  That’s a poetic title.  This time the solo work is left to the trombone of Andrew Danforth.

Both of Imboden’s parents are musicians.  His father is a woodwind player, like his son, and also a musician contractor.  He worked in traveling Broadway musical shows and for years was an in-demand musician hired for many recording sessions in and around Indianapolis. Sean’s mother was a freelance violinist and middle-school educator. The young Imboden snatched the baton and ran with it. He has performed with Grammy-winning artists and jazz icons like Slide Hampton, Taylor Eigsti, Sean Jones, Mike Rodriguez, Emmet Cohen, Steve Allee, Kenny Phelps, John Raymond and more. He recorded four albums with the Tucker Brothers Quartet.

Sean Imboden’s Large Ensemble was born in 2017.  During this project, the ensemble interprets his original music and arranging abilities with a midwestern community pride and enthusiasm that comes from working together and striving to be the best that they can be.

“We do have a lot of farms here,” Sean Imboden reminds me. “You learn that if you put in the hard work, this thing will grow, whether it’s a flower, a giant oak tree or a farm of soybeans … or a big band.”

ENSEMBLE CREDITS: Cassius Goens, drums; Nick Tucker, bass; Chris Pitts, piano; Joel Tucker, guitar; TROMBONES: Rich Dole, bass trombone; Tucker Woerner, trombone; TRUMPET/FLUGELHORN: Kent Hickey, Scott Belk, Clark Hunt & John Raymond; WOODWINDS: Matt Pivee, alto & soprano saxes/flute; Lamont Webb, alto sax/flute; Mark O’Connor, tenor & soprano saxophones; Cecily Terhune, tenor sax; Evan Drybread, baritone & bass clarinet

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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