WDR BIG BAND

BLUEGRASS

MCGJazz Records

“Slip and Slide” opens this album with a Bluegrass groove, until Karolina Strassmayer lays down her super saxophone solo and turns the arrangement towards jazz in a sweet way.  When Mike Marshall adds his mandolin talent to the mix, he turns the music back around to the Bluegrass side.  Marshall also composed this premiere tune. It’s an interesting marriage of Bluegrass music and Jazz.

“Elzic’s Farewell/Yew Piney Mountain” is a traditional medley that brings the Bluegrass rhythm to life with the attentive drums of Dominik Raab.  This Americana Southern folk music called Bluegrass originated in Kentucky and Tennessee in the late 1930 and the early 1940s. Chief Band Conductor, Bob Mintzer wrote the arrangements for this interesting production, enlisting the collaborative partners of mandolinist, Mike Marshall and violinist Darol Anger.  It was Arnd Richter’s idea.  He is the producer of the WDR Big Band.  Mintzer found the Bluegrass concept intriguing.

As I mentioned, two modern and high-caliber virtuosos of Bluegrass music were contracted: violinist, Darol Anger and mandolin master and guitarist, Mike Marshall. They not only add authenticity to the project, but their instrumental talents are applaudable and both are competent composers.  The two men were thrilled, because recording with a big band was a dream they both harbored.

On “Down in the Willow Garden,” another traditional Bluegrass tune, Darol Anger is featured on violin and Bob Mintzer plays a mean tenor saxophone solo. Mintzer contributed his own composition called “Green lawn” to this production.  Darol Anger introduces us to the melody on his feisty violin.  Marshall improvises on mandolin, as does Mintzer on his tenor sax.  The big band horn lines punch their power into space, like exclamation marks across the sky.

“Arranging the nine pieces included in this collaboration was challenging and inspiring,” Bob Mintzer writes in the liner notes.

Trombonist, Andy Hunter shines on his solo during “Emy in the Woods” written by Darol Anger and featuring Mike Marshall, this time on guitar.  Anger also wrote “Replace it All” which opens with a hambone shuffle drum solo that fades into funk, laid down by Dominik Raab. Anger’s violin comes in soulfully, stirring the musical stew pot with his spicy solo. This quickly becomes one of my favorite tunes on this album.  I also enjoyed “In the Lion’s Den” composed by Marshall.

THE WDR BIG BAND members: RHYTHM: Billy Test, piano; John Goldsby, bass; Dominik Raab, drums; SAXOPHONES: Johan Hörtén, Karolina Strassmayer, Jeremy Powell, Paul Heller & Jens Neufang. TRUMPETS: Wim Both, Ruud Breuls, Andy Haderer, & Martin Reuthner. TROMBONES: Ludwig Nuss, Tim Hepburn, Andy Hunter & Mattis Cederberg. Bob Mintzer, Conductor/composer/ saxophone/EWI. FEATURED ARTISTS: Mike Marshall, mandolin/guitar/composer; Darol Anger, violin/composer.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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