Walter White’s “Extra Large” Big Band

from the Bandcamp Web page for the recording being discussed

A little over a month ago, jazz trumpeter Walter White completed work on his latest album, entitled Walter White BB XL; and the album was “officially” released on August 28. White leads groups of all sizes, one of which is the Walter White Big Band. This probably accounts for the “BB” in the title, while “XL” suggests that even more players than usual were recruited for this project. It appears that, at the present time, the album is available only for digital download or streaming. While Amazon.com has created a download Web page, the one created by Bandcamp is far more informative, providing much of the information that one would expect to see in an accompanying booklet.

The album presents eight compositions, only three of which are composed by White. However, one of these occupies two tracks, since “Portus Apostoli” is preceded by an “Intro” for just trumpet (White) and piano (Gary Schunk). The other composers involved provide a richly diverse account of the sort of jazz that was being made during the twentieth century. They are, in “order of appearance,” as follows: Dave Brubeck (“Blue Rondo a la Turk”), Herbie Hancock (“Cantaloupe Island”), Horace Silver (“Nica’s Dream”), Jerome Kern (“The Way You Look Tonight”), and Victor Young (“My Foolish Heart”). White prepared his own arrangements of all five of these selections.

The primary emphasis across the album involves brass instruments of a variety of different sizes. That includes solo tuba work from Dan Anderson, although in “My Foolish Heart” he is playing in a register high enough to suggest that he is using a tenor-sized instrument. There is also the usual contingent of saxophones, but their opportunities for solo work are relatively modest. Where the upper register is concerned, White tends to save the “stratospheric” passages for his own instrument.

The results amount to an affectionate reflection on some of the more exciting big band sounds of the last century. Those of my generation may be reminded of many of Stan Kenton’s richest arrangements; and, for many, those stratospheric riffs from White may bring to mind many of the bold and steep ascents played by Maynard Ferguson. The album thus amounts to a heart-felt take on twentieth-century jazz at its most assertively brazen, now viewed (perhaps a bit sentimentally) from a vantage point in the following century.

This may not have been my favorite approach to jazz when it was first being made, but I appreciate the respect it has been accorded by White’s new album.