(artistShare AS0222V (Review by Mike Collins) 

There is a moment in The ‘Pretty’ Road, a piece from the Maria Schneider Orchestra’s 2007 recording Sky Blue that never fails to make me catch my breath and experience a little surge of joy like an overdue homecoming. Gorgeous, swooping melodic phrases, carried by a blend of the horns and wordless vocals, sweep over a hooting, haunting soundscape that has been sketched out by Ingrid Jensen’s blending of flugel and electronics after we’ve been drawn down the road by the theme and evocative development. The return of the theme is like sunrise through the mist. It’s an emotional ambush. 

Schneider is both aware and mystified at ‘how written music combined with performance can impart the essence of one’s emotional experience’. It’s one of many striking insights she offers in the extensive booklet that accompanies the triple vinyl box set Decades, her latest release through artistShare. Of course, the magic (and mystery) requires a composer like Maria Schneider and an ensemble of the quality of her orchestra.  Decades is a retrospective of the relationship between composer and ensemble over its now thirty-year duration, each disc containing a selection from one of those decades. There are many ambushes like the one on The ‘Pretty’ Road.

There’s no previously unreleased music in this compilation. Still, there is selection and juxtaposition which is Schneider’s choice that both tells a story and directs the attention. There’s an evolution of the sound as the composer worked with and wrote for a remarkably stable group of musicians over, well, decades. On nearly every single track pianist Frank Kimbrough, Ben Monder on guitar, Jay Anderson on bass are there from the early 90’s Coming About to  Data Lords from 2020. Ingrid Jensen and Laurie Frink are in the trumpet section from the 90’s and through the noughties appearing on among others the feted Concert in the Garden and Sky Blue. The enduring relationships are perhaps one of the keys to the sense the music has of evocative gesture and freedom that always somehow lands securely, whether conjuring shimmering textures or developing and exploring melodic themes.

Like all of Schneider’s music over the last 20 years, this package is only available through artistShare and is currently vinyl only, emblematic of her determination to carve a path in which she retains control over the recorded music and forges a direct relationship with her fans. A feature of the artistShare releases is the lavish packaging and extended insights into the music-making process.  Another intriguing revelation in the notes, is of the way working with David Bowie on his 2014 single Sue (Or In Season of Crime) prompted Schneider to explore the darker, disturbing sounds she deployed on Data Lords, evoking a dystopian world of tech. 

Decades is remarkable document of a remarkable artist. Listening to it, whether dipping in, or in the sequence presented on the discs is an unfailingly intense and life affirming experience. Another striking reflection Schneider offers in her notes is to liken her compositional process to improvisation ‘slowed to a glacial speed’ responding to the musicians with whom she works. Although a retrospective, Decades also suggests a rich future, as that slow improvisational process continues.

Mike Collins is a pianist and writer based in Bristol, who runs the jazzyblogman site  https://jazzyblogman.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow - https://jazzyblogman.wordpress.com/ .
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