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Derrick Gardner & The Big dig! Band: Still I Rise

By Jack Bowers
July 23, 2020
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Derrick Gardner & The Big dig! Band: Still I Rise

Trumpeter

Derrick Gardner

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Derrick Gardner, a Chicagoan who has performed around the world with a who's who of jazz luminaries from

Count Basie

piano
1904 - 1984

" data-original-title="" title="">Count Basie,

Dizzy Gillespie

trumpet
1917 - 1993

" data-original-title="" title="">Dizzy Gillespie and

Frank Foster

saxophone
1928 - 2011

" data-original-title="" title="">Frank Foster to

Nancy Wilson

vocals
1937 - 2018

" data-original-title="" title="">Nancy Wilson,

" data-original-title="" title="">Tony Bennett and Harry Connick Jr., to name only a few, traveled to Winnipeg, Canada, to assemble and record his Big Dig! Band, several sizes removed from Gardner's sextet, The Jazz Prophets, a working group since it was formed in New York City in 1991. Gardner not only shines as trumpet soloist on five of the splendid album's seven numbers, he wrote and arranged all of them, giving the band ample red meat on which to chew.

Although Gardner's music isn't basically thematic, he writes with people, places and events in mind, dedicating "Still I Rise" to the poet, actor and civil rights activist Maya Angelou (from one of whose poems the name was taken), the graceful "Melody for Trayvon" to Trayvon Martin, an African-American teenager who was senselessly murdered in Florida in 2012, and "Blues a la Burgess" to his father, Burgess Gardner, who like Derrick was a jazz trumpeter. "Soulful Brother Gelispie" isn't a misprint; it's a salute not to Dizzy but to Randy Gelispie, depicted by Gardner as "one of the unsung heroes of jazz drumming." The groovy "8 Ball Side Pocket," a contrafact of guitarist

Freddie Green

guitar, acoustic
1911 - 1987

" data-original-title="" title="">Freddie Green's well-known "Corner Pocket," pays homage to a popular pastime, while the offbeat "Heavens to Murgatroyd!" revisits a waggish cartoon expression from Gardner's childhood. Even when cruising into relatively uncharted waters, Gardner's compositions and arrangements are for the most part firmly anchored in established jazz custom and framework.

Gardner tests the band from the outset on "Push Come da Shove," a formidable C-minor blues on which he solos with alto

Mark Gross

trumpet and vocals
b.1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Gross and drummer

Curtis Nowosad

drums
b.1988

" data-original-title="" title="">Curtis Nowosad while the trombone section dazzles. "Still I Rise" presents a more traditional big-band demeanor, as does the bustling "Soulful Brother Gelispie" (sharp solos courtesy of Nowosad, guitarist

Kasey Kurtz

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Kasey Kurtz and Gross on soprano sax). "Trayvon," the album's lone ballad, finds Gardner on muted trumpet, Gross back on alto to undergird persuasive statements by trumpeter

Curtis Taylor

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Curtis Taylor, tenor

Rob Dixon

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Rob Dixon and brother

Vincent Gardner

trombone
b.1972

" data-original-title="" title="">Vincent Gardner on trombone. "Blues a la Burgess" and "8 Ball" are old-school big-band swingers, while "Heavens to Murgatroyd!" simply must be heard, as it defies any plausible description (hint: it includes bizarre input from one "DJ Stop"). Setting "Murgatroyd!" (much of which is congenial) aside, it is to Gardner's credit that he has enlisted a squadron of accomplished sidemen from Canada and the States, and that they embrace within their ranks such masterful soloists as Gross, Nowosad, Kurtz, Taylor, Dixon, Vincent Gardner, pianist

Zen Zadravec

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Zen Zadravec and tenor

Tristan Martinuson

saxophone, tenor

" data-original-title="" title="">Tristan Martinuson, not to mention the leader himself.

In other words, it isn't hard to dig! this band, which thrives on Gardner's generally sunlit and likeable charts as it implants a smile on the listener's face. As a result, Still I Rise has risen to the crest of recent big-band enterprises and is undoubtedly admiring the view.

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Track Listing

Push Come da Shove; Still I Rise; Soulful Brother Gelispie; Melody for Trayvon; Blues a la Burgess; 8 Ball, Side Pocket; Heavens to Murgatroyd!

Personnel

Derrick Gardner

trumpet

Bijon Watson

trumpet

Jeff Johnson

bass

Curtis Taylor

trumpet

Andrew Littleford

trumpet

Mark Gross

trumpet and vocals

Greg Gatien

saxophone, alto

Rob Dixon

saxophone

Tristan Martinuson

saxophone, tenor

Ken Gold

saxophone

Vincent Gardner

trombone

Joel Green

trombone

Anthony Bryson

trombone

Bill Green

saxophone

Zen Zadravec

piano

Luke Sellick

bass

Curtis Nowosad

drums

Album information

Title: Still I Rise | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Impact Jazz

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