All About Jazz -review

4/16/2023

Here is a review of our latest album Voices: A Musical Heritage 2022. Read on to hear what Jack Bowers from All About Jazz has to say about this latest release.

February 8th , 2023

No matter where in the world one looks, there is musical history worth exploring and celebrating—which is what the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra sets out to affirm on its sixth album, Voices: A Musical Heritage. Winnipeg is the capital of Canada's Manitoba
Province, and Voices pays tribute to the area's rich and expansive musical fabric via a series of eight compositions designed to exemplify some of Manitoba's far-flung heritage: First Nations, Metis, Ukrainian, Jewish, Chilean, Brazilian, Nigerian and
Icelandic.

As with any album based on enduring themes, it is best to separate purpose from result and appraise the music on it own merits. In that respect, the WJO performs brilliantly, with no nuance or accent overlooked or undervalued. In other words, the ensemble is fully invested in the enterprise from the outset and plays with awareness and passion. Unison passages—even the most demanding—are easily mastered, while soloists are ready and able to add contrast and color when needed. Soloists' names are not given, which is the album's lone miscue.

As for the music, it spans the gamut from singular to swing, always with an impressive discernment of its own. The session opens on a Ukrainian motif with "Keeyn," the first movement of John Stetch's three-part Parallel Steppes suite, based on the Ukrainian folk song "Chorni Ochka Yak Teren," whose contrapuntal and chorale-like formats lead to the enchanting "Ochka," based on a second folk theme, and the dynamic up-tempo "Yaseni" (or Yaseny), whose sax soli, virtuosic piano discourses and hopak and kolomiyka rhythms bring the suite to a close.

Rodrigo Munoz' "Homenaje" which uses delightful Latin rhythms including the Chilean cueca to make its point, was written as an homage to the important Latin American musician and activist Victor Jara, Jeff Presslaff's "The Living Mind" as a paean to the pentatonic scale, developed in ancient civilizations and still used in various musical settings to this day. Henry Onwuchekwa composed and Richard Gillis arranged the colorful and light-hearted "Oriri," which means "party" in Onwuchekwa's hometown
in Nigeria, a marked contrast to the austere landscape painted in Gillis' Icelandic "Shadows," which follows. The orchestra nails each one, as it does Marco Castillo's luminous salute to the Amazon rain forest, "Choro para Amazonia"; Andrew Balfour's tantalizing bow to the Ojibway culture, "Ishpiming"; and Michelle Gregoire's ardent "Bison Hunt," the album's closest
brush with mainstream contemporary jazz. But jazz isn't the essential point here; reverence is. The WJO is honoring Manitoba's vast musical narrative and doing so as tastefully and proficiently as it can. Mission accomplished. And if you'd like to sample
another superb album in the same vein, check out the Saskatchewan All-Star Big Band's Saskatchewan Suite (Chronograph Records 094).

★★★★1/2

Jack Bowers

1 Comment

Roy A link

6/20/2024 10:16:32 pm

Great read thankss

Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra

The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra (WJO) is Canada’s first community-based, non-profit professional jazz orchestra. Founded in 1997 (registered charity in 2000), the WJO has matured to become an important part of Winnipeg’s cultural landscape, reflected in the ongoing support the organization receives from the Manitoba Arts Council, the Winnipeg Arts Council, the Winnipeg Foundation, and other sponsors. The mandate of the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra is to be an instrumental force in the promotion and development of big band jazz in Manitoba and beyond, through performance, composition, recording and education.

The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra is Generously Funded by:

Funding assistance provided by the Manitoba government. Aide financière accordée par le gouvernement du Manitoba.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Education Sponsors:

The Play-Along App project is supported by the Government of Canada’s Healthy Communities Initiative.

Concert Sponsors:

Radio Sponsors

Special Event Supporters

Supporters

The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra welcomes and shares its performance and creation of music - a universal language to all people irrespective of culture, race, sexuality, ability, language and gender.

Music is an agent of hope. A dynamic and valuable device that helps us to heal and to bring us together. The First Peoples of Canada understood this and used music to reunite, resolve and reconcile. In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that WJO activities take place on Treaty Territory – land that was maintained and earnestly cared for by Indigenous peoples before European settlement. Manitoba is the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and is the homeland of the Métis Nation. We acknowledge that Winnipeg benefits daily from Treaty 3 water that comes from Shoal Lake 40. It is with sincere sentiment that we recognize the mistakes of our recent and distant past. In working towards a Canada that benefits us all, we commit to seeking a greater understanding of Canada’s diverse cultural relationships through continued work with Indigenous communities; we commit to live in ways that honour and respect the treaties that were made on these territories; and we commit to stewarding the land in harmony for all who will come after us.

- Please refrain from wearing any fragrances or scented products as other patrons are allergic to them.
- Your likeness may be captured at this event. Attending this event implies your permission for your image to be used in marketing or promotional purposes.
- Please do not attend if you do not feel well. Call the box office at 204-632-5299 to arrange to go to another concert.

Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra / Box 68114, RPO Osborne Village, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3L 2V9
Main: 204-421-9398 / [email protected] Box Office: 204-632-5299 / [email protected]

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