The Infinite Winds CD produced by Fred Harris, director of jazz and wind ensembles and his ensembles received the highest rating review (5 stars, a rarity) on page 63 of the June issue of Down Beat Magazine. Down Beat is the most venerated jazz magazine world-wide.
Bigger and Better
by Fred Bouchard
MIT Wind Ensemble & MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, Infinite Winds (Sunnyside 1400; 58:34 *****) On this impressive recording, two MIT ensembles, ably led by director Fred Harris, Jr., perform with discipline and conviction on demanding suites that fuse time-honored jazz and wind-band traditions.
Argentine pianist Guillermo Klein's austere "Solar Return Suite" draws on octatonic scales from reeds, brass and a crystalline percussion section. Its textures evoke majestic sweeps of the Patagonian Andes, as Bill McHenry's tenor sax soars like a condor beneath the pitiless sun. Chick Corea's genial "From Forever" (a tribute to mentor Herb Pomeroy on the 50th anniversary of the MIT program he founded) showers solos on those leaping to challenge, notably pianist Peter Godart, vibraphonist Will Grathwohl and saxophonists Sam Heilbroner and Dylan Sherry. Don Byron's "Concerto" zestily pits fellow clarinetist Evan Ziporyn in meticulous craftmanship opposite spiky winds in three increasingly dramatic–and difficult–movements. Pounding martial rhythms and feral, whirlwind motifs conjure shades of Chavez, Adams, Stravinsky. This entire celebratory undertaking–world premieres, MIT's debut commercial jazz venture, tip-top playing–merits a "Bravo!"
Ordering info: sunnysidezone.com
