Cover of the album being discussed (from its Amazon.com Web page)
One week from today, saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer Jeff Lederer will release one of those albums that approaches jazz as chamber music by other means. The full title of the album is There’s a Yearnin’: Music for Winds and Voice. Vocals are provided by Mary LaRose, who is Lederer’s partner. They are joined by the Wildebeest Quintet, whose members are Michel Gentile on flute, oboist Katie Scheele, Mike McGuiness on clarinet, Sara Schoenbeck on bassoon, and Nathan Koci on French horn. The album will be released one week from today; and, as readers probably expect, Amazon.com has already created a Web page for pre-ordering.
As a composer, Lederer contributes only the first track on the album. “Crucifixion (not a word)” was inspired by Marian Anderson’s performance of the spiritual “They Crucified My Lord.” This is followed by a wind quintet composed by Eric Dolphy, which is coupled with Ornette Coleman’s quintet, “Forms and Sounds 1, 2, 3.” The remaining five tracks are arrangements of vocal works by Oliver Nelson, one of which inspired the title of the album.
I must confess that I have been a fan of wind quintets since my secondary school days. (My instrument in those days was clarinet.) Lederer seems to have found just the right balance to accommodate both chamber music and jazz; and there is no arguing with his choices of composers from the last century. This is definitely the sort of album that will benefit from multiple listening experiences.
