Label: Sunnyside Records, 2022
Personnel includes - Michael Leonhart: trumpet, French horn, trombone, accordion, organ, guitar, bass, drums; Donny McCaslin: tenor sax; Joshua Redman: tenor sax; Michael Blake: tenor sax, flute; Chris Potter: bass clarinet; Freddie Hendrix: trumpet; Tony Kadleck: trumpet; Ryan Mason: trombone; Ryan Keberle: bass trombone; Sara Schoenbeck: bassoon; Bill Frisell: guitar; Nels Cline: guitar; Larry Goldings: organ; Elvis Costello: vocals; JSWISS: vocals; Joe Martin: bass; Nicolas Movshon: drums; E.J.Strickland: drums; and more.
Trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Michael Leonhart returns with his fabulous orchestra and guest heavyweights for a third outing on the Sunnyside label, The Normyn Suites. The album was inspired by Leonhart’s 15-year-old dog, a dachshund whose name is in the title.
The program treads elegiac and celebratory tones alike, starting with the funky nerve of “Shut Him Down”, one of the three cuts co-written with Elvis Costello. This one features the hip hop singer JSWISS and the saxophonist Joshua Redman, who plays his late father Dewey’s restored tenor with a few chromatic shifts and a lovely neo-bop flair filled with clever outside moves. Costello also puts his finger and voice on the hauntingly narrated “Radio is Everything” and enhances the modern transfixion of “Newspaper Pane”. On the former, the spoken word glides over a smooth texture created by guitarists Nels Cline and Bill Frisell.
The Normyn Suite is divided into two parts of six movements each. Fascinating on multiple levels, The Normyn Suite #1 (Soundtrack to the Five Stages of Grieving) is my favorite, demonstrating a dynamic rhythmic propulsion on “Denial” and a hip hop beat limned with snare and hi-hat agility on “Anger”. This latter piece feels darker and more mysterious in texture. “Catharsis” pairs up the idyllic acoustics of Frisell with the reflective expression of strings swarming together. They are later joined by a lean beat. The ambient-inclined “Nostalgia” is curled in poignancy, featuring the crying trombone of Jim Pugh and the beseeching lines of tenorist Walter Weiskopf. And the chapter concludes with “Acceptance”, a soulful 6/8 effort that trades on a mix of classical and R&B.
From The Normyn Suite #2 (Love & Loss), I select as highlights “May the Young Grow Old”, an enticing dance in five that turns the spotlight to keyboardist Larry Goldings on Hammond B3; and “Waking From Sedation”, the perfect ambient-mystery atmosphere to fit Frisell's guitar. The two bonus quartet tracks that close out the album are jazz waltzes honoring jazz giants and feature Leonhart (on trumpet) and saxophonist Donny McCaslin as soloists. The feel-good “Kenny Dorham” is limned with an exotic flavor in the pulse, hard-bop color, and a gorgeous organ accompaniment, whereas “Wayne Shorter” conjures up the harmonic richness and searching quality that characterize the music of the saxophonist that celebrates.
Leonhart not only reveals enormous compositional prowess and mastery of several idioms, but also gives an earnest modern perspective to his orchestra, allowing multiple shades of color to fester in each arrangement.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Shut Him Down ► 05 - Nostalgia ► 16 - Kenny Dorham (bonus track)