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Reviews & Press Clips
Reviews of “The Comet’s Tail”What better way to commemorate Michael Brecker than with a CD by a hard-driving big band playing his compositions. Brecker, the great tenor sax player died in 2007. His music and talent will be long remembered, and Chuck Owen & the Jazz Surge have put together a wonderful selection of arrangements, starring some of today’s best of players. Owen, University of South Florida jazz composition professor, conceived this project in conjunction with USF. Owen says that the goal was re-envisioning Brecker’s work through the eyes of various arrangers, including Brecker’s frequent collaborators Gil Goldstein and Vince Mendoza. Owen, himself, was a major contributor, along with Vancouver composer Fred Stride. For its second recording, joining the talented 17-piece Surge orchestra on various numbers are special guests Randy Brecker, trumpet, Mike Mainieri, vibes, Mike Stern, guitar, Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano, saxes. Little known violinist Rob Thomas is also a big presence. The numbers are long, about 10 minutes each, giving everyone a chance stretch out on solos. Most had shared the bandstand on numerous occasions with Michael Brecker. Fittingly, the CD starts off with brother Randy Brecker soloing on “Peep,” a sparkling arrangement by Stride. The sharp precision of the band is immediately apparent. Owen’s four arrangements are very impressive, beginning with his take on the popular “Itsbynne Reel,” a surprising delight, formed from a traditional Irish reel. Thomas’ violin is integral from the start as the piece moves toward a swirling climax—Thelonious Monk meets River Dance. Band members Jack Wilkins on tenor sax and LaRue Nicholson on guitar contribute wild solos in the free-for-all finale. Thomas’ violin again sets the tone for Owen’s adaption of “How Long ’til the Sun,” a soft mellow ballad, with Randy Brecker’s lyrical trumpet and the band’s layered brass shadings adding much to the indigo mood. A real standout is Owen’s quirky version of “Take A Walk.” This begins with an animated musical conversation between saxes, Lovano’s tenor and Liebman’s soprano. The title can be taken as an invitation or a put-down. About one-third in, Manieri’s vibes joins the group. All happily converse musically until they seem to get perturbed, making for a hotly dissonant finish. This is high octane writing. In Owen’s take on “Everything Happens When You’re Gone,” Lovano, after a soulful start, really gets “amped” on tenor. On this, the band projects a big brassy Stan Kenton sound. And, again, Thomas takes a hard-sawing solo. The Comet’s Tail truly captures Michael Brecker’s genius, But, as well, it should be a launching pad, lifting recognition for the Surge band. What started out as a jazz-arrangement competition turned into a series of commissioned works, added on to composed pieces extended from several previous recordings, and ended up being an epitaph celebration for the late saxophonist Michael Brecker. Chuck Owen and Dave Stamps organized the Jazz Surge Big Band with help from several former Brecker collaborators or instrumentalists who convened at the University of South Florida to play larger-than-life versions of tunes from a 25-year period of the revered tenor man’s repertoire. The resulting music is spectacularly expanded and explosively played in Michael Brecker’s neo-bop image, the charts rivaling even the most imaginative of current-day orchestrators. Along with the fine foundation players Owen recruited to read the charts, heavyweights like saxophonists Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano, section leaders Jack Wilkins and Tami Danielsson, violinist Rob Thomas, vibist Mike Mainieri, guitarist Mike Stern, drummers Dan Gottlieb or Adam Nussbaum, and especially trumpeter Randy Brecker take leadership roles as the fuel that fires this well-oiled and potent musical machine. The highly stylized sounds here are not only lovingly done with Michael Brecker’s persona in mind, but also fabulously tailored and opulent far beyond anything that might be construed as conventional. “Peep” kicks things off with the winning competition entry among 80-plus submitted charts as arranged by Vancouver’s Fred Stride, and it leaps out of the speakers, loaded with dense, dizzying, crazed counterpoint, further enhanced by funky to boppish beats, and Randy Brecker’s moonraker electric trumpet solo. Likely the best-known tune is “Takea Walk,” an arrangement by Owen where Lovano’s lead tenor and Liebman’s soprano work well with Mainieri in a spastic, improvised intro, then jam on a two-note blues that perfectly represents the Philly-to-N.Y.C. soul-street strut that was always a Michael Brecker signature. Then there’s “Slings & Arrows” (done originally by Michael with Jack DeJohnette) and reinvented by Vince Mendoza, with layer upon layer of orchestration, a deft solo by tenor saxophonist Wilkins similar to Michael’s post-Coltrane voicings, and Gottlieb’s strident, exciting drumming as either prompt or filling. The famous Irish jig fusion of “Itsbynne Reel” as faithfully interpreted by Owen, has the violin of Thomas on center stage, dancing through mixed-metaphor green fields and tough-paved streets. The lighter Stamps chart of “Sumo” has a harder edge but a softer core, with soaring music for Liebman’s tenor sax and Thomas‘ violin sprouting wings on their solos, while Gil Goldstein was asked to contribute his version of “The Mean Time,” as flitting flutes and woodwinds with bass clarinet add color contrasts and drama to the jumpy horns and brass players, in a piece that fully captures the Brecker’s Seventh Avenue South neo-bop identity. Guitarists LaRue Nickelson and Stern are allowed some substantive solos, pianist Per Danielsson joins $Randy recker’s flügelhorn and Thomas during Owen’s version of the lush “How Long ‘Til the Sun,” and Lovano’s heartfelt feature via the arrangement of Owen on the somber ballad “Everything Happens When You’re Gone” seems an appropriate coda to this project, which was completed after Michael Brecker’s losing battle with MDS. It’s good that this project forged ahead, because the resulting music should make every fan of Michael Brecker smile in perpetual appreciation for his gifts, and for the tribute this extraordinarily talented group of contemporary jazz musicians offered in his memory. It’s a truly outstanding recording, and a collection of works deserving of universal attention for the excellent music it is.
”The Comet’s Tail” is incredible, fantastic, and a true masterpiece of music. There simply are not enough superlatives to describe it. Mike Stern’s guitar work is masterful, understated, and carefully articulated. Rob Thomas’ violin work at times evokes both Ponty and Grapelli. This is one of those truly unique recordings that is perfectly composed, arranged, conducted, and engineered. This is not only one of the better big band recordings I have ever heard but it is also one of the best recordings I have ever heard ever. I only wish I had written the liner notes. It should be nominated bor a GRAMMY. I would send my copy to the committee but I refuse to give it up or even take it out of the CD player. It deserves to be heard by as many people as possible.
On The Comet’s Tail, Chuck Owen’s superb Florida-based Jazz Surge performs the compositions—yes, compositions—of the late great tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker. As Owen writes in the liner notes, “[Michael's] blinding brilliance as a performer / improviser…may have inadvertently overshadowed or simply redirected attention away from his output and effectiveness as a composer.” The Surge helps redress that shortcoming via a succession of bracing themes that affirm beyond any doubt that Michael Brecker was an uncommonly gifted writer as well as a remarkably influential player. Owen’s forces are buttressed along the way by a number of accomplished guest artists including Michael’s brother, the celebrated trumpeter Randy Brecker, saxophonists David Liebman and Joe Lovano, guitarist Mike Stern, violinist Rob Thomas, vibraphonist Mike Mainieri and drummer Adam Nussbaum. Owen arranged half of the eight selections, with the rest divided equally among Fred Stride (”Peep”), Vince Mendoza (”Slings and Arrows”), Dave Stamps (”Sumo”) and Gil Goldstein (”The Mean Time”). Randy Brecker solos smartly (muted) on the sinuous “Peep” and (flugel) on the ballad “How Long ‘Til the Sun,” Stern on “Peep” and “Mean Time,” Liebman on “Sumo” (tenor),) “Mean Time” and “Take a Walk” (soprano), Lovano on “Walk” and “Everything Happens When You’re Gone,” Thomas on the lively “Itsbynne Reel,” “Sun” and “Sumo,” Mainieri on the spasmodic “Walk.” Nussbaum sits in for drummer Danny Gottlieb on “Mean Time” and Walk.” Jack Wilkins, the Surge’s tenor soloist, blows vehemently on “Slings and Arrows,” “Reel” and “Mean Time,” while guitarist LaRue Nickelson has his say on “Slings” and “Reel,” pianist Per Danielsson on “Sun,” trombonist Tom Brantley on “Sumo.” “Everything Happens,” showcasing Lovano’s dreamy tenor, is a marvelous way to wrap up the radiant session. Sound and balance are admirable, the ensemble even more so, the invited guests dazzling. In sum, a superior album by any measure, and an impressive tribute to Michael Brecker’s uncommon depth and versatility.
Michael Brecker was such a powerful and masterful tenor saxophonist that one does not think of him as a composer. However, with the release of The Comet’s Tail, a set of eight Brecker compositions, one can make the case that he was almost as innovative in his writing as in his playing. The project had its genesis while Brecker was still alive. Chuck Owen, the professor of jazz studies at the University of South Florida and the artistic director of the USF Center for Jazz Composition, teamed up with Dave Stamps, the managing director of the center. They organized the International Jazz Arranging Competition in Honor of Michael Brecker in 2006. Fred Stride won the contest with his complex and colorful arrangement of “Peep”. Other arrangements were commissioned from Vince Mendoza and Gil Goldstein to augment charts written by Stamps and Owen. A series of concerts and recordings were planned and, while Brecker’s death in Jan. 2007 changed the initial mood of exhilaration, the music went on. Chuck Owen’s Jazz Surge, a 17-piece ensemble that has appeared on his previous CDs, forms the core of the musicians heard on The Comet’s Tail. Such guest soloists as trumpeter Randy Brecker, guitarist Mike Stern, Dave Liebman on tenor and soprano, tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano, vibraphonist Mike Mainieri, violinist Rob Thomas, and drummers Danny Gottlieb and Adam Nussbaum make strong statements (Gottlieb is a regular member of the orchestra) and there are also passionate solost from tenor-saxophonist Jack Wilkins, guitarist LaRue Nickleson, pianist Per Danielsson and trombonist Tom Brantley. While the individual solos are quite impressive, it is the ensemble playing and spirit of the full ensemble that really stands out. The riotous and joyous “Itsbynne Reel” is one of many standouts. Needless to say, Michael Brecker would have loved this CD.
Sensational. Almost as stunning a jazz orchestra disc as the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble’s “Eternal Interlude”. Where Hollenbeck’s disc is a sumptuous riot of color a la Maria Schneider and Gil Evans and Bob Brookmeyer, Owen and the Jazz Surge’s rendition of Michael Brecker’s compositions is in the jazz orchestra lineage of Quincy Jones and Oliver Nelson. It was certainly to be expected that a figure as ubiquitous and popular and prematurely lost a Michael Brecker would be memorialized by his friends. But who knew Brecker compositions like “Slings and Arrows” and, especially, “Itsbynne Reel” could be turned into orchestral pieces with this much artful wallop? It isn’t just that the disc includes, as soloists, Brecker’s trumpet-playing brother Randy, saxophonists Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano, and Jack Wilkins, violinist Rob Thomas, vibraphonist Mike Mainieri, and guitarist Mike Stern. It’s that, among other things, Danny Gottlieb turns out to be such a stupendous large band drummer that he can swing 17 pieces into serious heat just with his brushes. One of the year’s great jazz discs. **** (of 4).
Director Chuck Owen leads The Jazz Surge, a brass rich large ensemble performing compositions of the late Michael Brecker. The band is fortified with guest artists Mike Stern (g), Randy Brecker (t), Dave Liebman (ts) and Joe Lovano (ts). The music selection is good, the new arrangements are fresh and execution is flawless. Layering and dynamics are very good. Our favorite tracks are “Peep” and “The Mean Time”. It you enjoy big bands and fusion; they are combined here in an enjoyable package. 4/4
I just finished listening to “the Comet’s Tail”, The Jazz Surge’s brilliant tribute to Michael Brecker. Throughout my 27 years at WBGO, quite a few “tribute” records have come across my desk. I have to tell you “Comet’s Tail” is certainly one of the finest, capturing the spirit, passion, brilliance and magnificent compositions we all enjoyed through Michael’s genius. An extremely well told tale of this comet!
On August 11, MAMA Records released Chuck Owen & The Jazz Surge’s The Comet’s Tail: Playing the Compositions of Michael Brecker. Under the direction of Owen, the disc features the eminently swinging 17-piece Jazz Surge alongside longtime Brecker collaborators such as Joe Lovano, Mike Stern, Mike Mainieri, Dave Liebman, Adam Nussbaum, Danny Gottlieb, Rob Thomas and Brecker’s brother Randy. The Comet’s Tail is the first release emanating from the University of South Florida’s Center for Jazz Composition and the culmination of a project begun in 2006. Seeking to focus attention on an established composer’s body of work while, at the same time, stimulating new works, the CJC launched an International Jazz Arranging Competition in honor of Brecker. Over 80 works from five countries were submitted. Ultimately, British Columbia resident Fred Stride’s rollicking score of “Peep,” which opens The Comet’s Tail, was selected as the winning entry. In the meantime, the CJC commissioned fresh arrangements of Brecker compositions from the saxophonist’s frequent behind-the-scenes collaborators Gil Goldstein and Vince Mendoza. Each selected a song of his choosing with Mendoza going with “Slings and Arrows” and Goldstein opting for “The Mean Time,” a tune from Pilgrimage, Brecker’s final recording. These works, along with arrangements by former CJC Managing Director Dave Stamps and Owen, the organization’s present director, were to be premiered in a series of concerts throughout central Florida in April 2007. Sadly, Brecker passed away in January of that year, casting a somber mood over the project. After careful assessment, everyone agreed that the project should continue and that it would serve as a poignant tribute and wonderful celebration of the late saxophonist and his work. After three April concerts premiers and two recording sessions, the Jazz Surge reprised the material (with two new charts added) at the Clearwater Jazz Holiday in October 2007. The final recording sessions soon followed. The result of so much intensive and loving labor is a fine, lively record, with inspired playing all around. The eight selections span some 25 years and are culled from seven different Brecker recordings. As tributes go, this one’s a memorable gem. Chuck Owen, who is the Director of the USF CJC leads his 17 piece band Jazz Surge through eight classic Brecker compositions on The Comet’s Tail. He also arranged four of them. The winner of the competition, Fred Stride arranged the classic “Peep,” and it is the lead cut on the CD. Brother Randy Brecker blows some rollicking trumpet here, and guitarist extraordinaire Mike Stern is also featured. Randy also appears on “How Long ‘Til The Sun,” playing flugelhorn. This great ballad also contains a lovely piano solo by Per Danielson and some haunting violin from Rob Thomas. Thomas’ violin gets a workout on the punning “Itsbynne Reel,” which is another latter period Michael Brecker track. On this cut, John Wilkins performs admirably in the Brecker role, playing tenor sax. Brecker’s old friend from the great 1980’s era Steps Ahead band, Mike Mainieri also makes an appearance, on the song “Take A Walk.” This is the longest track on the record at over 12 minutes, and Chuck Owen’s arrangement really allows the musicians room to explore. “Take A Walk” was originally released on the Paradox LP, which came out when the band were still known as just Steps. The walking bass line used throughout the piece is a perfect context for Mainieri’s vibraphone solos. The dual sax play of tenor Joe Lovano and soprano Dave Liebman is a marvel at times. Capping things off is the bittersweet “Everything Happens When You’re Gone,” which starts off as a nice ballad, and builds into a rousing celebration of the great life Michael Brecker led. The Comet’s Tail is an adventurous and rousing send off for a man who left the jazz world much too early. Michael Brecker will be missed.
Academic jazz doesn’t have to shuffle its feet in some dim library corner anymore. It can link arms and step out with the most swaggering club veteran and after-hours jammer. Of course, anyone familiar with David Baker’s dynamic long-running program at IU already knows that. With jazz overall assuming more of a high-art stature than it may be entirely comfortable with, it makes sense that the searching creativity and skill the music now embraces should have plenty of protection and nurture in institutions of higher learning. Now comes Chuck Owen and his University of South Florida Center for Jazz Composition band with a soaring tribute to the compositions of Michael Brecker, the formidable tenor saxophonist who died in 2006 of myelodysplastic syndrome. Without his distinctive instrumental voice (anyone else remember Herbie Hancock returning to the Clowes Hall stage shaking his head and smiling after Brecker’s torrential unaccompanied interpretation of “Naima”?), his writing as interpreted by others has to speak for him. On “Comet’s Tail” (MAMA Records), Owen contributes arrangements of four Brecker originals. Competition winner Fred Stride’s chart for “Peep” gets the disc off to an intricate, funk-besotted start. It’s an ingenious piece of work, clean-featured and swinging, but signals a tendency that eventually mars the disc: This is assertive contemporary big-band writing that honors Brecker’s spirit but perhaps verges on textural overload. If Richard Strauss had turned to jazz and gotten funky, it might sound like this.The solos always get some great context, however, and there are fine ones from guests Mike Stern, guitar, and the honoree’s formidable brother Randy on trumpet.
The late, Philly-spawned saxophonist/composer Michael Brecker is honored by a brassy, all-star crew of musicians (brother Randy Brecker, Danny Gottlieb, Dave Liebman, Mike Mainieri, Mike Stern and more) and super arrangers performing as Chuck Owen & the Jazz Surge on “The Comet’s Tail” (Mara, B+). Most surprising and fun, the Celtic-cowboy-flavored “Itsbynne Reel.”
Tampa-based Chuck Owen is directs the University of South Florida’s Center for Jazz Composition. He also runs his own mighty fine, high-flying pro big band, The Jazz Surge. This project features his band performing new robust arrangements of a wide range of compositions by late saxophonist Michael Brecker (from his Steps Ahead days in the 1980s through his final recording, Pilgrimage). It’s an outgrowth from, and features the winning entry in, the Center’s International Jazz Arranging Competition in Honor of Michael Brecker (more than 80 arrangements were entered), along with other arrangements by Owen, CJC colleague Dave Stamps, and guest contributors Vince Mendoza and Gil Goldstein. Guest musicians for the recording and a series of related concerts include Randy Brecker, Mike Stern, Adam Nussbaum, violinist Rob Thomas, saxophonists Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano and vibes player Mike Mainieri. Highlights: “Peep,” the competition-winning arrangement by Fred Stride of Vancouver, British Columbia; “How Long ‘Til The Sun” featuring Randy Brecker and Rob Thomas; the frenetic “Itsbynne Reel,” the Mendoza-arranged “Slings and Arrows” and the poignant “Everything Happens When You’re Gone,” which features Lovano. Other standout soloists include pianist Per Danielsson, guitarist LaRue Nickelson and tenor saxophonist Jack Wilkins. Reviews of “Here We Are”Chuck Owen, an educator and director of Jazz Ensemble I at the University of South Florida in Tampa, arranged all of the songs on (this CD) and composed all but two: Dave Liebman’s graceful “Off Flow” and the memorable standard “My Foolish Heart” the last a showcase for the superb tenor saxophonist Jack Wilkins, director of Jazz Studies at USF. As an arranger, Owen reminds me most of Bob Brookmeyer with such other influences as Gil Evans, John Lewis, and William Russo surfacing at various times, while his compositions are thoroughly contemporary but by no means inaccessible. Most of them swing¸ with the ruminative “Duets” (featuring guitarist LaRue Nickelson, violinist Rob Thomas, and alto saxophonist Valerie Gillespie) finding its groove after a rather tentative few moments. Owen’s masterful Jazz Surge is complemented by the presence of a number of accomplished guests, perhaps the best-known of whom is Canadian luminary Ingrid Jensen who solos on trumpet (“E Ticket”) and flugel (“Off Flow”). In addition to “Duets”, Thomas sits in on “E Ticket” and (with organist Gary Versace) on “Glib” while cellist Lowell Adams lends a hand on “Duets”, guitarists Barry Greene and Lex Macar on Owen’s evocative two-part salute to Louis Armstrong, “Red Beans and Ricely Yours”, which uses a four-member Dixieland group to help carry out the composer’s plan. Mention should be made of the ensemble’s supple rhythm section anchored by drummer Danny Gottlieb and embodying guitarist Nickelson, pianist Per Danielsson, and bassist Mark Neuenschwander, and the solid work of lead trumpeter Brian Scanlon. A well-drawn session for the modernists who appreciate music that engages the mind as well as the heart. When Chuck Owen is not involved with Jazz Studies responsibilities at the University of South Florida, he is immersed with his other passion – The Jazz Surge big band. Those familiar with Owen’s two prior CDs know that his ten-year old big band will receive kudos, and especially this latest CD with talented guest soloists, trumpet Ingrid Jensen, violinst Rob Thomas, and organist Gary Versace. Performances arch from a well-delivered tribute to Louis Armstrong (a two-art piece that intriguingly blends traditional jazz and modern big band) to a mix of ballads and blues with grooves. “E Ticket” is a tempting appetizer that is really like a full entrée. And dig Jack Wilkins’ magnificent tenor solo on “My Foolish Heart”. Thomas’ violin improvisations help to set this CD apart with his exciting gallery of roles. Owen’s inspirational creativity is mined here with exceptional musical values and results. Sea Breeze Records is a small independent label featuring no less than 180 titles in its catalog. Since 1987, the “store” has been run by Danny Beher, an eccentric mostly known for putting out any record related to jazz activity on American campuses. He specializes in big bands and jazz ensembles, preferably with prestigious guests. Ever wondered who was responsible for releasing Lee Konitz or Phil Woods’ albums with some random Ohio college? He was. Year after year, his dedication has given way to superb little volumes which sometimes cross our borders to testify, much to our surprise, of jazz vitality in the U.S. Chuck Owen & the Jazz Surge’s third album is one of them. An original, eclectic pianist, arranger and composer, Chuck Owen is one of these “obscure” artists who, through their unrelenting commitment, keep the flame burning brightly to illuminate jazz. Among other things, he has been head of the jazz department at the University of South Florida for 22 years, 10 of which he has led “The Jazz Surge”, a college big band he always finds the best ingredients for. Trumpet player Ingrid Jensen, violinist Rob Thomas and organist Gary Versace all contribute to a remarkably smooth swing machine. Besides the piece de resistance, a succulent tribute to Louis Armstrong (listen to the two cues borrowed from the famous trumpeter which Owen deconstructed and reconstructed, and try finding just one bar which the late Louis could have claimed as his), the rest of this original repertoire is a mix of groovy ballads and blues with a zest of modern music. Saxophone player Jack Wilkins, a professor at the same university, delivers an outstanding version of “My Foolish Heart”, the only standard on the album. Creative and definitely not for yuppies. What more could we ask for? If only this could happen on French campuses…! “Art music is a tough sell” admits Chuck Owen in his liner notes to his new compact disc. Well ‘Art’ music is not a term I am familiar with and I have to confess that the expression, although it is probably a fair way to describe the music, does give a wrong impression. Rightly or wrongly I imagine ‘Art’ music as inaccessible, self-serving, and rejoicing in it’s ability to confuse. I would prefer to rely on the reliable expression ‘cutting edge’. In fact this is an imaginatively conceived exploration of the landscape of large jazz ensemble music. Perhaps going that extra mile to demonstrate that cliché free ensemble writing enhanced by imaginative soloing by kindred spirits can produce an emotional entity that will thrill, excite, and expand your perception of the big band. Owen here is blessed with extraordinary appropriate soloists, including guest trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, violinist Rob Thomas, and organist Gary Versace. Each and every one resists the opportunity to bend the usual rules for dramatic effect and concentrates on enhancing the musical adventure within this inspiring musical adventure. This CD asks a little of the listener. Far from being superficial this is an experience that will delight those who expect and enjoy some demands in their music, perhaps it will try the patience of those seeking formula writing and arranging. Those who do buy this CD knowing all that awaits, are in for a rewarding experience.
Chuck Owen & the Jazz Surge return with their strongest and most bold set so far. Owen is a jazz studies professor at the University of South Florida, but the appeal of “Here We Are’ is anything but academic. This is hard-swinging stuff that draws daringly from several schools of jazz. Gary Versace’s organ gives “Glib” a nice, greasy tone. The compelling harmonies of “My Foolish Heart” lift Jack Wilkins’ tenor sax solo to new heights. LaRue Nickelson’s guitar and Rob Thomas’ violin add spice throughout. Speaking of spice, the dics’s two-part closer, “Red Beans & Ricely Yours,” is an invigorating Crescent City romp, a salute to Louis Armstrong that reflects his spirit while retaining the Jazz Surge’s signature sound. |
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