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Nick DePinna: Nexus Music Vol. 1

By Jack Bowers
June 22, 2019
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Los Angeles-based composer-trombonist

Nick DePinna

trombone
b.1985

" data-original-title="" title="">Nick DePinna dips his toes warily into the big-band pond on Nexus Music Vol. 1, a concise yet largely impressive glimpse at contemporary motifs from a large-group perspective. The album encompasses only three songs whose total playing time is a brief twenty minutes, about one-quarter the maximum length of a Compact Disc.

So much for duration, what about content? In that respect, the news is essentially quite good. DePinna is a splendid writer and arranger with an advanced point of view that mirrors the recent trend toward big-band innovation and diversity. "Reveille," which leads off the album, is a brass-heavy powerhouse in a funk-rock vein that thunders implacably onward behind brawny solos by alto saxophonist

Dan Kaneyuki

saxophone, alto

" data-original-title="" title="">Dan Kaneyuki and guitarist

Brady Cohan

" data-original-title="" title="">Brady Cohan, and powerful time-keeping by drummer

Jake Reed

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Jake Reed. Tenor

Hitomi Oba

" data-original-title="" title="">Hitomi Oba is showcased on the graceful, easygoing "Refugio"—inspired by California's central coast beach that fell victim to a catastrophic oil spill in 2015—as are DePinna and vibraphonist

Christian Tamburr

vibraphone
b.1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Christian Tamburr on "Asceria," which uses every horn and catalyst on the premises to reconcile, in DePinna's words, "two elements with a desire to understand each other." That the reconciliation is smooth and pain-free may be ascribed in part to DePinna's perceptive chart as well as the yeomanlike work of his excellent ensemble.

To carry out his plan, DePinna uses three trumpets, three saxophones, his trombone, a vibraphone (on "Asceria") and a four-member rhythm section augmented, on "Reveille," by percussionist Roland Gajate-Garcia. The result, to all intents and purposes, is a big band whose membership never exceeds a dozen, performing charts whose playing time barely reaches twenty minutes. On the one hand, that isn't a lot of music; on the other, the music that is there is worth hearing. And as this is Nexus Music Vol. 1, it is reasonable to assume that there is more of the same either in the works or on the drawing board. Let's hope that is the case.

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Track Listing

Reveille; Refugio; Asceria.

Personnel

Nick DePinna

trombone

Nick DePinna: leader, trombone; James Blackwell: trumpet; Tom Terrell: trumpet; Noah Meites: trumpet; Dan Kaneyku, Hitomi Oba, Tim McKay: saxophones; Christian Tamburr: vibraphone; Brady Cohan: guitar (1); Brandon Bae: guitar (2, 3); Ross Garren: keyboards; Tim Lefebvre: bass (1); Noah Garabedian: bass (2, 3); Jake Reed: drums (1, 3); Michael Lindsay: drums (2); Roland Gajate-Garcia: percussion (1).

Album information

Title: Nexus Music Vol. 1 | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Orenda Records

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