Derrick Gardner is back with the Big dig! Band and their premiere release, Still I Rise. The seven-track masterpiece (ten on the digital copy) is a combination of Derrick’s small group, The Jazz Prophets, with current and former students/colleagues from the U.S. and Canada coming together to form an 18 piece big band. Striving to set a new standard in the Winnipeg area, where Derrick teaches, the band has workshopped the music in the spirit of the Mingus big band perfecting it into the well-oiled machine that we hear on this recording.
The opening track, Push come da shove, is written in a fanfare cannon-like style that quickly segues into an up-tempo driving ostinato that grabs your attention right off the bat. This minor blues is filled with intricate writing, voices overlapping and intertwining, and building to a climax that releases Derrick into a high charged solo. Drummer Curtis Nowosad takes a brief solo before him and Mark Gross engage in a rhythmical duet that builds into Gross playing with the entire rhythm section. The band accompanies the veteran alto saxophonists before it abruptly stops to bring a short reprisal of the cannon-like writing before surging back to full speed and propelling the listener forward again, and finally ending calmly like the clear sky after a hurricane has passed through. And this is just the opening track!! The entire arrangement is filled with exquisite arranging done by Gardner, and it truly sets the tone for the coming tracks.
Still I Rise pays tribute to the one and only Maya Angelou and one of her most famous poems, which serves as the title for this tune. Again Derrick’s beautiful yet powerful trumpet soars above the band and really showcases his experience from playing with the Count Basie Orchestra, the Harry Conick Jr. Big Band, and many many more. Just like the poem that is filled with optimism despite turbulent times, so too does Still I Rise seem to have an optimistic, declaratory feel to it which seems to scream “I will make it!” Soulful brother Gelispie is inspired by the great drummer Randy Gelispie. Gardner says he was trading fours with the master drummer and he started playing this groove that became an earworm for him and he wrote this composition based on it. Gardner, who has always been a socially conscious artist, pays homage to Trayvon Martin in this beautiful melancholic melody which mourns the loss of the bright soul that was Trayvon Martin. Melody for Trayvon, among many other tunes on this album, embodies the essence of the blues and the listener cannot help but feel the pain of this senseless tragedy even all these years later.
Among the many influences, probably none could be more profound than his own father who is also a great trumpeter, composer, arranger, and educator. Blues à la Burgess is swinging for the fences and has the soulful grittiness one would expect from someone coming out of Chicago like Gardner. 8 Ball, Side Pocket is definitely a tune that one could envision listening to while enjoying a game of pool and perhaps enjoying a drink and a stogie! The playful melody conjures up feelings that I get listening to Sinatra and his band. I really enjoy the robust tenor playing on this one as it sits right in the pocket and feels so good to listen to. The final track of the album, Heavens to Murgatroyd is the icing on the cake of this masterpiece, and truly showcases the genius of Derrick Gardner to the umpteenth degree! The sound effects, reminiscent of an era of cartoons that perhaps young audiences might not be familiar with but nonetheless can appreciate, are perfectly implemented in this arrangement and provide the bedrock for this masterful writing. I found myself in awe at how Gardner perfectly put these effects rhythmically in sync with the rest of the arrangement. And Nowosad’s drumming compliments the sounds perfectly. I was amazed and yet I laughed as well at the playfulness, and I feel it was such a great way to end this album.
Again, on the digital version there are three other tracks, To whom it may concern, One thing led to another, and Daaayuuum which listeners will no doubt enjoy just as much as the ones I have mentioned here, but I don’t want to give away too much! I could go on all day in much more detail on all the brilliant moments captured on this record, but just like going to the movies for the first time… a picture is worth a thousand words- or in this case, a LISTEN is worth a thousand words! Derrick Gardner has stood among many giants of the past and his contemporaries of today as one of the greatest trumpeters, composers, and arrangers, and yet he continues to still rise to new heights of artistic expression and I have no doubt we will be seeing more beautiful works from the maestro in the years to come. We can only hope it’s sooner than later!
For further information please visit:
- http://www.derrickgardnermusic.com/
- https://twitter.com/dgardnr
- https://www.instagram.com/dgzphotoop/
Photography by Joe Oczerklewicz
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