Metro Pulse/Music/UT Jazz Orchestra

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Who:
Knoxville Jazz Orchestra

When:
Sunday, May 14 at 7 p.m.

Where:
Fairbanks Roasting Room, $3

All-star musicians play the work of Donald Brown

by Mike Dotson

You know jazz pianist Donald Brown. You've heard him all around town playing a few of his own compositions (including weekly gigs at Harry's and Lucille's) and lots of other jazz. Metro Pulse has written about this local jazz artist whom few seem to know in Knoxville but who has an international fan base.

No musician gets me out of my house and into the clubs more often than Donald Brown. Before Donald came to teach jazz at the University of Tennessee in 1988, he taught at Berklee (1983-85), played in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He has also worked with Donald Byrd and Freddie Hubbard, among many others, and recorded several albums of his own. His acclaimed compositions add verve and dignity to albums from the likes of Wynton Marsalis.

You should also know about a new jazz group in town: the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra. Many of its faces are familiar: Mark Tucker, David King, Bill Scarlett, Jimmy Mann, and Tom Johnson take up the sax; Michael Wyatt, Stewart Cox, and Thomas Heflin man the trumpets; Don Hough, Darrell Wyatt, Tom Lundberg, and Brad McDougall play trombone; Bill Swann has the piano; Rusty Holloway provides the bass; and Keith Brown pounds the drums. The Knoxville Jazz Orchestra is like the Knoxville jazz all-star team, brought together on one stage by another local jazz legend in the making, Vance Thompson.

Thompson wears a white T-shirt and athletic haircut and moves with the bearing of an off-duty cadet when he brings his trumpet to Lucille's stage to join Bill Scarlett's Thursday night band. His solo is a model of discipline and crystalline expression. Scarlett was a member of UT's jazz faculty when Thompson earned his undergrad degree at UT. Thompson went on to DePaul University to earn a Masters and teach, then returned last July to teach at UT.

Soon after returning to Knoxville, Vance founded the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra. He composes and arranges for large ensembles, but the nearest standing orchestra that could perform his work was in Cincinnati. The new Knoxville orchestra provides members "a chance to play challenging music with other guys who are going to pull their load," he says. Six Knoxville performances, two with guest artists Marvin Stamm and Ed Soph, have already earned attention and respect for the group's musicianship, discipline, and uniqueness in the region. Orchestra membership has been stable through all performances to date.

Vance and his associates are working hard to establish the orchestra as a non-profit organization. That tax status, along with the group's growing reputation, should attract funds to buy new music, commission new works, fund in-school concerts, and bring in guest artists to perform with the band. The funding would also allow members to make the orchestra's activities a part of their livelihood and devote more time to the group's projects and performances.

Trombonist Don Hough is preparing for the orchestra to appear at three of the world's most prestigious jazz festivals in the summer of 2001: the North Sea Jazz Festival (the Netherlands), Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), and the Nice Jazz Festival (Paris). This will be the group's first opportunity to spend two solid weeks playing together. Vance also sees these appearances earning some well-deserved attention for Knoxville's creativity.

But this Sunday's concert will be the debut of some new material. The orchestra has expanded its book with new arrangements of Donald Brown tunes. A UT Big Band commissioned the arrangements from Thompson and debuted them in April. Sunday will be the KJO's first performance of the works.

I heard KJO record a demo of two works they've rehearsed for Sunday's performance. The interplay of voices is complex, but lines are easy to follow. "I Used to Think She Was Quiet" recalls some of the quieter charts of the Woody Herman Thundering Herd in the '60s, smack in the middle of the modern big band tradition. In contrast, "The Thing About Harold Mabern" opens with an orchestral flourish that might fit in a 19th century Cesar Franck or Edvard Grieg symphonic piece, then shifts directly into a vamp drawn from Mabern's Memphis piano style, amplified by the 12 horns to a level of excitement that might remind fusion fans of the more electric Return to Forever albums.

The orchestra's pianist, Bill Swann, will play variations on Donald's piano parts, a special treat for those already familiar with the works. "It's a challenge," he says about the opportunity to play Donald's piano parts. "First, because Donald is my teacher. And his music is unique-his playing style and harmonic sense. It's hard to do the music justice."

For variety, a Joey Sellers chart completes Sunday's program. Sellers is an up-and-coming composer who made his reputation among musicians by leading big bands in Los Angeles and New York with the cream of local players. His group in New York would compare to Maria Schneider's orchestra, in both elite membership and refined orchestral style.