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Douglas Detrick’s Anywhen Ensemble: The Bright and Rushing World

By Mark Corroto
April 27, 2014
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Douglas Detrick’s Anywhen Ensemble: The Bright and Rushing World

Go ahead, ask the question, "But is it jazz?"

Douglas Detrick

trumpet
b.1983

" data-original-title="" title="">Douglas Detrick's Anywhen Ensemble presents the ten movement suite, The Bright and Rushing World, a continuous piece of music, commissioned by Chamber Music America. So maybe it isn't jazz.

Detrick's ensemble contains a jazz drummer Ryan Biesack, who can be heard on Pieces (OA2 Records, 2013), a jazz recording by saxophonist Hashem Assadullahi, also a member of Detrick's ensemble. Ok, so it is jazz. But there is also a cellist, Shirley Hunt and Steve Vacchi's bassoon on this recording. Okay, let's back up a bit. The Anywhen Ensemble has played folk music with

Wayne Horvitz

keyboards
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Wayne Horvitz, and their previous release was Rivers Music (Origin Classical, 2011). So is it classical?

If we ask

Gil Evans

composer / conductor
1912 - 1988

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

Gunther Schuller

composer / conductor
1925 - 2015

" data-original-title="" title="">Gunther Schuller, they will say it's jazz. So would George Russell,

Ornette Coleman

saxophone, alto
1930 - 2015

" data-original-title="" title="">Ornette Coleman, and probably

Duke Ellington

piano
1899 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Duke Ellington would tell us, "It Don't Mean a Thing, If It Ain't Got..."

That's right, this chamber ensemble's got that swing. A sly, deft swing that intermeshes a composed score with improvisation. The instrumentation implies classical, but then so did

Eric Dolphy

woodwinds
1928 - 1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Eric Dolphy's bass clarinet and remember

Oscar Pettiford

bass
1922 - 1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Oscar Pettiford's switch to cello? The instrumentation is but a delivery device. Detrick's piece moves seamlessly between composed and improvised parts. Mallets are swapped for drumsticks, a cello is bowed and plucked. Then there is Detrick's bright trumpet work, it is as glistening as any classical player, yet, like Dave Douglas, it can growl and pop evocative jazz sounds. The longest piece on the recording is "A Question So Weightless It Floats Away." Here, the suite's general theme is deconstructed into various call-and-response parts, cello/trumpet, drums/saxophone and bassoon flesh out Detrick's theme. Assadullahi's soprano saxophone exchange with Bieseck leave no doubt this music is jazz. The pair uncover an impassioned passage worthy of a late night jam session, yet suited to this suite. This is joyous, classifiably unclassifiable music.

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Track Listing

The Door Is Open; And You Watch As He Goes Out; A Seeker, Insubmissive; Into The Bright And Rushing World; Who, Over Years In Your Care; You Never Thought To Give A Name; You Gasp And Ask Aloud; How Can You Live Without A Name?; A Question So Weightless It Floats Away; On The Wind of His Leaving.

Personnel

Douglas Detrick

trumpet

Douglas Detrick: trumpet, composition; Hashem Assadullahi: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone; Shirley Hunt: cello; Steve Vacchi: bassoon; Ryan Biesack: drum set.

Album information

Title: The Bright and Rushing World | Year Released: 2014 | Record Label: Navona Records

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