(Post Bop, Modern Creative) Jamie Baum Septet - Solace - 2008, MP3, V0

Ralph Alessi - Trumpet/Flugelhorn
Jamie Baum - Flute
Vincent Chancey/Chris Komer - French Horn
George Colligan - Piano/FenderRhodes
Jeff Hirshfield - Drums
Doug Yates - AltoSaxophon/BassClarinet
Shane Endsley - Trumpet
Kyoko Kitamura - Vocals
Drew Gress - Bass

Catalog #
2008 CD Sunnyside 281193
Jamie Baum leads a nonet through her demanding originals on her fourth CD as a leader. She alternates between flute and alto flute with her band, which includes two trumpets (with one sometimes replaced by flugelhorn), two French horns, alto sax or bass clarinet, piano, bass and drums. Baum's compositions require more than a casual hearing to begin to appreciate them. "Solace" integr ates post-bop and Latin jazz in a swirling of musical colors. The driving "Wheeler of Fortune" is dedicated to Canadian trumpeter Kenny Wheeler. But the musical centerpiece is her commissioned "Ives Suite," a four-movement work inspired by Charles Ives' Fourth Symphony and The Unanswered Question, with the third movement ("Questions Unanswered") including a vocal and spoken words by Kyoko Kitamura in addition to excerpts of a historic speech by President John F. Kennedy; while the fourth movement ("Answers Unquestioned") is a comic masterpiece that is actually a well-disguised blues.