" data-original-title="" title="">Fred Stride and the twenty-member Saskatchewan All Star Big Band have combined to paint a luminous and colorful portrait of that western Canadian province, canvassing 150 years of its history in eight picturesque movements that describe in musical terms the land itself, its indigenous peoples, newcomers from Europe and elsewhere, its recognition in 1905 as a province, the importance of various sports to Saskatchewan's inhabitants, and the legacy of jazz as an essential part of its heritage, one whose seeds were planted in the early years of the twentieth century and have blossomed to enable the sort of virtuosic tribute that is presented here.

Indeed, while Stride has built a handsome and sturdy vehicle, it is jazz that makes the engine hum, especially on the final movement, "Saskatchejazz," wherein Stride moves effortlessly through the decades, taking nearly twenty minutes to sketch the genre's development from trad to swing, big band to bop, Latin to fusion and beyond. The ensemble is at its thundering best here, with dynamic solos by residents in every section and a resounding coda that awakens tantalizing memories of the boisterous heyday of