Summary of musical life and influences localized, as Steve Allee Big Band CDs get national exposure

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Kitchen cooks:  Steve Allee Big Band observed release of two CDs 

The Saturday appearance in two sets of the Steve Allee Big Band celebrated a milestone in the large-ensemble output of an Indianapolis jazz master, who's been a fixture here for decades as bandleader, composer-arranger, and pianist.

I heard the first jam-packed set at the Jazz Kitchen to mark the release of a pair of recordings made last year: "Naptown Sound" and "Full Circle." Nearly all the 16 selections are Allee originals, and the few that aren't adhere to the theme of paying tribute to Indianapolis jazz and many of its acknowledged masters.

The first set was a well-paced sample, departing only at the end with a spectacular trip through Freddie Hubbard's "Hub Tones," rapid in tempo and chock-full of solos. The glistening trumpet-section display alone will stay with me for a long time. The trades were intense, particularly along the front line of saxes plus clarinet. 

The 17-piece band included a couple of guest performers in several numbers: clarinetist Frank Glover and vocalist Erin Benedict. They were first heard from together on "Twins," an Allee tribute to a couple of musicians he played with often in his early career: brothers Steve and Greg Corn. Benedict's accurate and warmly produced wordless vocals also ornamented "Full Circle," whose theme had a swirling motion amplifying its title. Allee explained the title by dedicating the piece to "the musicians who inspired us" and thus enabled those currently active to pass on the inspiration to others.

"Full Circle" included a sensitively soft-spoken bass solo by Jeremy Allen and, when the chart opened up fully, an assertive tenor-sax outing by Chip McNeill. Considering how Allee intended to embody a host of musical memories in the work, there was a suite-like unity to "Full Circle," with all the elements smoothly linked. I especially enjoyed trumpeter Ansyn Banks's episode, which got a setting with so complete an ensemble role that the resemblance to "concertante" textures of 18th-century classical music was unmistakable. Overall, Allee was painting with a full palette here.

"Wes at the Turf" was a concentrated tribute to one of the prime influencers of Allee and many other musicians, guitarist Wes Montgomery, whose career was cut off in his early forties just after he'd made a thoroughgoing impact on jazz. This piece honored the guitarist's early gigs at a Haughville club, as is helpfully pointed out in Kyle Long's well-researched booklet notes to "Naptown Sound." Saturday's performance featured cogent solos by guitarist Sandy Willams and tenor saxophonist Rob Dixon.

For a celebration of Indianapolis jazz at the non-populist end of the spectrum, Glover and Allee set the parameters of "Zebra II"  toward the arcane but quite influential style of Claude Sifferlen, the piece's composer and a critical mentor to both the clarinetist and the pianist. It was the first set's bracing touch of the esoteric, a quality that always seemed central to Sifferlen's improvisational art.

Star guest trombonist Jim Pugh, holding down the principal chair in his section, shone individualistically with a mellifluous solo on "Brothers." The arrangement featured a stunning staccato ensemble chorus, notable for both warmth and precision.

Other things that stood out: The set-opening trip down "The Avenue," burgeoning from a drums-and-vibraphone opening (kudos to Steve Houghton and Rusty Burge), moved into several solos showing the predictable adeptness of such band members as Matt Pivec on alto sax. 

A couple of tunes later, Michael Stricklin, the band's other regular on the same instrument, was a delight to hear as always in his "Texas alto" mode. He was featured in  Steve Allee's tribute to his son David's thriving institution, aptly titled "Cookin' at the Kitchen." Stricklin had two solos on that piece and, with his bandmates also reveling in the medium-tempo groove, was absolutely simmerin' in the summer.

[Photo by Rob Ambrose]





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