RECORD REVIEWS I ILZZ

JANE IRA BLOOM MARTY EHRTICH TARGE ENSEMBLE ew year! Sixteen Sunsets A Trumpet in the Morning amplifiers! Jane lra Bloom, soprano saxophone; Marty Ehrlich, conductor, clarinet, bass clarinet; J.D. Parran, narrator, Dom i nic * B rown' bass; soprano & bass saxophones; ""ni:li',ffi,?:;f ffiTJ Adam Kolker, Jason Robinson, others, reeds; Ron Outline OTL141 (CD;, Pure Audio PAR 55017 (BD). Horton, James Zolla1 others, trumpet; 2013. Jane lra Bloom, prod.; Jim Anderson, prod., John Clark, French horn; Ray Anderson, Michael eng. DDD . TT: 77 :48/77 :4O Dessen, others, trombone; Jerome Harris, guitar, slide guitar; Uri Caine, James Weidman, piano; PERFoRMANcE ****.*, Drew Gress, Brad Jones, bass; Warren Smith, soNtcs (cD) *"* ***; teot **-* ** vi b ra p h o n t'' e rso n' il fJiff illj ffi " New World80752-2 (CD).2013. Marty Ehrlich, Ira Bloom is a soprano-saxo- Jane oded Lev-Ari''J?,t:'fi:%lj;'nomerv' e ns' phone specialist who has won many jazz polls and a Guggenheim. Sixteen "-'3:il:l'lI*II* Amp Sunsets is her 15th recording as a leader !ntegrated and her first ballad album. The funes are mostly classics from the American One hates to abuse the word materpiece, Pure Tube Songbook. This is a rupt album of but surely A Tiumpet in the Morningwill deep after-midnight atmospheres, but go down as a m{or statement from its romanticism is sometimes edgy veteran reed player Mr.ty Ehrlich. flhe with passion. "For A11 We Know" is leader ser"ves as conductor-he plays on a naked autobiographical outpour- only one track-and marshals rsound irg. "I Loves You Porgy," "Darn of extaordinary power and beauty. That Dream," artd "Good Morning His writirg is at once intricate and ilA, Heartache" are wistful but not entirely with players in multihued combina- sad, because Bloom's soprano keeps tions e4ploring a harmonic language of sweeping free of their melodies with deepest complexi ty and breadth. The embellishments driven by thejoy of recording, done at Brooklyr" Systems spontaneous creativiry. Two, is immaculate. Sixteen Sunsets is a co-release. This music is rightly called orchestral, The renowned engineer Jim but Ehrlich keeps an improvising Anderson recorded and mixed it aesthetic firmly in focus, relying on tn 24-bit/9 6kHz, 5.! - channel DTS groove and swing and the sheer ability and released it on Blu-ray, and in a of the musicians under his baton. r'wo-channel mix for CD. The BD There are passing hints of Abdullah captures Bloom's physical movements Ibrahim and Lester Bowie, even as she plays, and places her in a three- elements of rock and soul, interspersed dimensional ambient aural landscape. with chamber-like episodes: gorgeous The most intriguihg track is "My rubato brass and clarinet choirs, a duet Ship," the only unaccompanied of French horn and trombone, and a piece. Anderson recorded Bloom's quasi-concerto for pianist Uri Caine in saxophone, played it back through "M Variations (tvtelody for Madeleine)." two speakers placed under the piano, Two shorter pieces bookend the and recorded the piano resonating in program, but "Rundowns and Turn- sympathy. The final 5.1 mix creares backs" and the title track both push fields of saxophone calls and ringing past 20 mtnutes. The lattu findsJ.D. piano responies. f1re responses Parran reciting a long Arthur Brown emanate as if from a distant horizon. poem with great 61an, and shredding The CD version is a rypical high- mightily on bass saxophone-one of class Anderson recording, clear and the disc's many textural knockouts. detailed. But once you hear the Blu- Toward the end, the entire band sings ray, you won't want to play the CD lines from the poem. The effect is anymore. -fhomas Conrad spectacular. -David R. Adler

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