Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out

Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out

By Jerome Wilson
October 24, 2019
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Mike Holober

piano
b.1957

" data-original-title="" title="">Mike Holober is a celebrated composer and arranger who has worked for ensembles like the Westchester Jazz Orchestra in New York and the WDR and HR Big Bands in Germany. He is also the leader and founder of the Gotham Jazz Orchestra which here makes its first appearance on record in ten years. Holober makes this return a fruitful one, coming up with a 2CD set featuring two long suites, both with themes involving American landscapes.

The first suite is "Flow," which evokes the path of the Hudson River as it travels from the Adirondack Mountains to Manhattan. The suite starts, in "Tear Of The Clouds," with

Billy Drewes

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Billy Drewes' flute,

Jay Azzolina

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Jay Azzolina's guitar and Holober's piano sounding like tinkling raindrops, leading into a surging theme that is passed through various sections of the orchestra at shifting volumes until

Jason Rigby

saxophone, tenor
b.1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Jason Rigby's tenor sax takes control with a moody solo backed by the twisting fabric of guitar and piano.

Marvin Stamm

trumpet
b.1939

" data-original-title="" title="">Marvin Stamm is featured on pearly trumpet on "Opalescence" as the orchestra plays spacious music with the pastoral beauty of Aaron Copland. Wary waves of brass and flutes sigh over slower, more graceful variations on the main theme. After a brief penny whistle break by

Ben Kono

saxophone, tenor
b.1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Ben Kono that evokes bird cries, Drewes' alto leads the entire ensemble into the furious big band bashing of "Harlem." Azzolina, bassist

John Hébert

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">John H��bert and drummer Jared Schonig lay down a hard-charging rhythm for Drewes and trumpeter

Scott Wendholt

trumpet
b.1965

" data-original-title="" title="">Scott Wendholt to caper over while Holober's nagging piano and Azzolina's rippling guitar push the orchestra forward into pounding harmonized riffs with a polished sheen.

Holober wrote "Hiding Out" in a cabin in Wyoming that overlooked the Big Horn mountains. That setting leads to this suite having a subued and awestruck feel, starting with Stamm and Kono leading quiet massed reeds through a solemn theme. On "Compelled" Holober's gentle piano repetitions set the backdrop for flowing waves of flutes and brass until guitarist

Steve Cardenas

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Steve Cardenas comes in with a thoughtful, Spanish-tinged solo that merges nicely with the plush brass figures. A delicate miniature for flutes and piano, and a floridly romantic piano solo follow. Then Holober's piano leads into the whirling surge of "It Was Just The Wind," with horns moving in and out to a galloping beat.

Jon Gordon

saxophone, alto

" data-original-title="" title="">Jon Gordon on alto and

Adam Kolker

woodwinds

" data-original-title="" title="">Adam Kolker on tenor take soaring, dizzying solos as the orchestra continues its relentless movement at a slower tempo. Finally Holober steps out with simmering electric piano against a fast samba rhythm as the horns comment in the margins.

This set goes beyond just the two suites. "Jumble" is a restless piece with jazz-rock energy where the horns snap together in beautifully constructed harmonies and solos come from Gordon's frisky alto, Holober's jumping electric piano and

Jesse Lewis

guitar
b.1978

" data-original-title="" title="">Jesse Lewis' buzzing electric guitar. At the end of it all comes a mellow arrangement of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Caminhos Cruzados" featuring Stamm on romantic flugelhorn.

Mike Holober's writing is in the expansive and ambitious lineage of

Gil Evans

composer / conductor
1912 - 1988

" data-original-title="" title="">Gil Evans,

Bob Brookmeyer

trombone
1929 - 2011

" data-original-title="" title="">Bob Brookmeyer and

Maria Schneider

composer / conductor

" data-original-title="" title="">Maria Schneider: music of varying moods that merges the thrust of jazz with atmospheric colors closer to the classical world. It can teem with energy or settle into a state of quiet, contemplative beauty. This set shows a wide range of the composer's abilities and also provides fine platforms for soloists like Marvin Stamm and Billy Drewes. Holober creates excellent, modern orchestral jazz.

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Track Listing

CD 1: Jumble; Flow: Movement 1: Tear of the Clouds; Movement 2: Opalescence; Movement 3: Interlude; Movement 4: Harlem. CD 2: Hiding Out: Movement 1: Prelude; Movement 2: Compelled; Movement 3: Four Haiku; Movement 4: Interlude; Movement 5: It Was Just the Wind; Caminhos Cruzados; Caminhos Cruzados (Radio Edit).

Personnel

Mike Holober

piano

Billy Drewes

saxophone

Jon Gordon

saxophone, alto

Dave Pietro

saxophone, alto

Ben Kono

saxophone, tenor

Adam Kolker

woodwinds

Jason Rigby

saxophone, tenor

Charles Pillow

saxophone

Alan Ferber

trombone

Carl Maraghi

saxophone, baritone

Tony Kadleck

trumpet

Pete McGuinness

arranger

Scott Wendholt

trumpet

Marvin Stamm

trumpet

Steve Cardenas

guitar

Jesse Lewis

guitar

Jay Azzolina

guitar

Mark Ferber

drums

Jared Schonig

drums

Rogerio Boccato

percussion

Album information

Title: Hiding Out | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Zoho Music

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