(Modern Big Band, Modern Creative Jazz, Post-Bop) [WEB] Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra - Brush Fire {WSG Records WSG-61474, USA} - 2009, FLAC (tracks), lossless

This double-award winning CD was selected by the Detroit Music Awards as the Best Modern Jazz CD of the Year in 2009. It contains all original compositions and arrangements of Gwinnell and the orchestra features the talents of Brad Felt, Steve Wood, Justin Walter, among others. This is the 16 piece orchestra at its creative best, captured on this CD by WSG Records.

Rating: 95/100
Against impossible odds, the Detroit jazz scene remains hot and continues to forge world-class players and ensembles. In the thick of it all you will find 34-year-old composer/pianist/author/educator Scott Gwinnell, who has played with heavy hitters from Joe Lovano to Dave Liebman as well as most of Motor City's jazz elite. His orchestra performs regularly at one of Detroit's swankiest watering holes, the ultra-classy Cliff Bells. Their second release, Brush Fire, offers moments of genuine spontaneous combustion, especially in the title track.
"Brush Fire" is a powerful, heady composition. After an opening Romanesque fanfare the head begs comparison to Freddie Hubbard's "Intrepid Fox," though not quite as dark. Once the form straightens out into an uplifting samba for the solos, Keith Kaminski spreads his wings in a sprightly soprano flight, followed by neo-cool ruminations by trumpeter Justin Walter. A brief, almost melodic drum solo takes it back to the head, then out with Kaminski and Walter trading fours traded on the turnaround. Overall the band is tight, the spirited arrangement lean, listenable and balanced. Even those who are lukewarm on big band music should be sufficiently ignited by this brush fire.
Reviewer: Bill Barnes

Review by Matt Collar
Pianist/composer/arranger Scott Gwinnell leads his big band through a set of sophisticated and swinging jazz numbers on 2009's Brush Fire. A fixture on the Detroit jazz scene as the house band at Cliff Bell's jazz club, Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra is a stellar ensemble rooted in the tradition of the progressive big band sound. Which is to say that although the SGJO can swing like Count Basie in 1960, the band also features a handful of forward-thinking and creative improvisors with a bent toward modal post-bop. To these ends, such SGJO players as saxophonist Carl Cafagna and trumpeter Justin Walter bring the heat on their solo turns on "Crossroads" and "Tenor of the Conversation" respectively. Similarly, such cover tunes as Horace Silver's funky "Sister Sadie" and "Gregory Is Here" are superbly crafted numbers that benefit from inspired solo turns by saxophonists James Hughes and Steve Wood as well as euphonium slinger Brad Felt. However, rather than simply revisiting roadworn classics, Gwinnell brings his unique approach to the big-band sound with five solid original numbers. Cuts like the propulsive title-track opener and the evocative mid-album "The Sleeping Bear" reveal Gwinnell's knack for crafting memorable melodic songs that leave plenty of room for searching improvisational sections.

The 16 piece, award-winning, internationally-acclaimed, Detroit-based Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra is a modern-jazz ensemble that performs original compositions and arrangements by their leader Scott Gwinnell and other creative arrangers.
Album Notes:
The award-winning, internationally-acclaimed, Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra is a 16-piece Jazz big band led by pianist and composer/ arranger, Scott Gwinnell. The “SGJO” is committed to playing the original compositions and arrangements of Gwinnell as well as music by Jazz legends, Thelonious Monk, Thad Jones, and Charles Mingus.
The SGJO plays weekly to live audiences at Cliff Bells, a popular Detroit Jazz club. Going on two years, it is there where they work out new music and fine tune the jazz orchestra into one of Detroit’s finest, most vital Jazz groups. Members of the SGJO are some of the most accomplished Jazz musicians in Michigan and Ohio, and most are leaders of their own Jazz groups; there are also several arrangers in the orchestra.
This new album, Brush Fire, is their second album, released by WSG Records. It has met rave reviews so far.
Recent highlights of the Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra include:
A performance at the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference with saxophonist, Dave Liebman.
Performances at Cliff Bells with trumpeter Dominick Farinacci, and vocalist Aria Hendricks.
Awards and nominations from Detroit Music Awards in 2007, 08, and 09
Upcoming performance with bassist, John Clayton, at the Detroit Jazz Festival
The leader of the SGJO, Scott Gwinnell is a 34 year old pianist/ trombonist/ composer/ arranger/ educator, residing in the Detroit area. Gwinnell has been a professional sideman in many different groups since the age of 15 and continues to perform, mostly on piano, as a vocation. He has recorded/ toured/ played with: Joe Lovano, Steve Turre, John Clayton, Dave Liebman, Terrell Stafford, Delafayo Marsalis, Frank Morgan, and others. As a composer, Gwinnell has written well over 200 works, many of which have been recorded and/ or performed by many top music ensembles. As an educator, Gwinnell was a visiting assistant Professor at the University of Toledo for three years, and Bowling Green State University for one. He has conducted Jazz clinics and performed as a guest artist around the country. His second recording, The Scott Gwinnell Trio, has just been released on WSG Records. He is currently finishing a book on Jazz history.