Metropolitan Jazz Octet Featuring Dee Alexander Celebrate Billie Holiday

Metropolitan Jazz Octet Featuring Dee Alexander
It's Too Hot For Words: Celebrating Billie Holiday
Delmark Records

The Chicago-based jazz repertory ensemble, Metropolitan Jazz Octet's latest album, is an examination of the Billie Holiday songbook featuring vocalist Dee Alexander. It wasn't until they finished recording this that they realized that Holiday passed away 60 years ago. The original MJO was originally started in the 1950s by saxophonist & arranger Tom Hilliard. From the late '50s through '80s, Hilliard wrote many of the group's 150 (+) charts. As a professor at De Paul University School of Music, Hilliard taught three members of the current MJO. He bequeathed his musical library, passing the torch to the next generation. Now led by Jim Gailloreto, John Kornegay, and Bob Sutter, MJO consists of eight talented musicians who are active in jazz and music education in the Chicago area.

The current MJO initially started exploring Hillard's library, but since started including new works from its members. MJO consists of John Kornegay- alto sax and clarinet; Jim Gailloreto - tenor sax and flute; Peter Brusen - baritone sax and bass clarinet; Doug Scharf - trumpet; Russ Phillips - trombone; Bob Sutter - piano; Doug Bistrow- bass; and Bob Rummage - drums. On four selections, strings are added to enhance the recording. Ms. Alexander selected the ten songs that she and the MJO perform here. Members of the band contributed the arrangements. One exception is an arrangement by Thomas Matta, DePaul Jazz Studies professor.

Except for "Strange Fruit" and "Ain't Nobody's Business," the songs here have not been recorded 'to death.' Furthermore, those two numbers sound fresh in the hands of Ms. Alexander and the handsome arrangements here. As Neil Tesser observes in the liner notes, Dee Alexander does not try to imitate the phrasing or timbre of Lady Day. One thinks of Ella, Sarah Vaughan, and Dinah Washington as also sources of her art. What one has are her interpretations that make even the most familiar songs sound new. This is evident from the opening "Ain't Nobody's Business," with Jim Gailloreto's arrangement. Alexander's perfect pitch, phrasing, and her robust vocal, along with the horn setting and solos from Scharf, Phillips, and Gailloreto, make this one of the most outstanding interpretations of this song. Gailloreto's arrangement incorporates strings on the Gershwins' "Things Are Looking Up," in which his flute and the clarinets help engender a romantic feel with Sutter and Scharf in the spotlight. Alexander's vocal includes her magical delivery of the lyrics and her stunning scatting.

"The Blues Are Brewin'" is more of a song in the vein of "Blues in the Night," than a straight blues song. Alexander shows how dynamic a vocalist she is, at times, phrasing in a delicate manner and at other times, belting in like Ms. Washington. Scharf's arrangement gives a bluesy feel to "Strange Fruit," and Gailloreto takes a robust, almost gutbucket solo. Gailloreto's arrangement employs strings to provide colors and textures, providing a somber atmosphere to accompany the drama in Alexander's potent singing. The mournful trumpet and trombone set against the horns add to the mood of this classic protest against lynching. It is the darkest performance perhaps, but certainly, one that listeners will remember.

Between the marvelous playing of the MJO and the sublime vocals of Dee Alexander's, one cannot help but observe the rapport between them. There is magic in the performances of "I Wished on the Moon," "It's Too Hot For Words," or the heartbreak expressed "I'm a Fool To Want You." Dee Alexander and the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra are so marvelous that one might almost forget that this sterling CD is a tribute to Billy Holiday. This is that good.

I received my review copy from Delmark Records.  Here is the Metropolitan Jazz Octet Featuring Dee Alexander performing "Things Are Looking Up."

Howard Alden/Andy Brown Quartet Bring Heavy Artillery

Fans of swing guitar (including for my blues loving friends some of Duke Robillard’s recent swing guitar efforts) will be delighted with Heavy Artillery, by the Howard Alden/Andy Brown Quartet (Delmark). I am more familiar with Alden, a member of George Wein’s Newport All Stars, than the Chicago-based Brown, but both are terrific swing-rooted guitarists who display nimble, fleet fretwork matched to a keen musical intelligence. Additionally, they exhibit considerable empathy in supporting each other whether chording behind the other’s solos, trading fours or jointly stating the theme of a song, 

They take us from the opening “Louisiana” to the boppish Chuckles (from Clark Terry’s pen), down to Brazil on Vocé E Eu, and Brigas Nunca Mais, and to Paris for Django Reinhardt’s number that provides the recording with its title. Alden returns to a song associated with Louis Armstrong, Don Redman’s No One Else But You, that he used to perform with Rudy Braff. In addition to the two marvelous Bossa Nova performances, Thad Jones’ “Three and One,” showcase their ability to interpret amore modern jazz compositions with the same swinging approach (bassist Joe Policastro and drummer Bob Rummage take brief solos here).

With supple backing from Policastro and Rummage, Alden and Brown enchant throughout Heavy Artillery with fleet and lyrical playing. This is a marvelous recording.

I received my review copy from Delmark. Here are the two in performance.