GETTING TO HEART, SOUL OF HIS MUSIC

Rob McConnell, whose 22-piece orchestra from Toronto, the Boss Brass, will be in residence at Donte’s through Thursday, feels lucky to be here, for several reasons.

Since his last Donte’s visit 2 1/2 years ago, he has won his first Grammy (in 1984, for his album “All in Good Time”); taken part in a new record session with Mel Torme (with whom he teamed Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl); and, most relevant of all, survived the heart attack that felled him in April, 1985.

He attributes his presence here to the support of his native land. “We could never have made it otherwise,” he says. “The Canadian government gave us a substantial amount of money for this trip, and the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Culture also helped out considerably.”

McConnell, 51, a brilliant composer and arranger who plays valve trombone, started his orchestra in 1968, but the men worked together only intermittently; all make their livings mainly as free-lance musicians in Toronto. His illness led to one of the longest intermissions in the band’s history.

“I had to lay off for two months. No, I didn’t use the time to do some writing--I used it to worry! I didn’t touch my horn in all that time--but it was a blessing in disguise. I’d been smoking 50 cigarettes a day for 35 years and drinking whisky. Well, I’ve stopped, and I feel extremely lucky and grateful to be in good shape again. I lost 40 pounds after the illness, but I’ve gained back about half of it, and I have to watch myself carefully.”

McConnell’s orchestra has earned international critical acclaim and won a couple of Juno Awards (the Canadian counterpart to the Grammy), yet the band has only once made a cross-Canada tour, and has yet to work in New York, let alone visit Europe or Japan.

“I don’t feel too bad about that,” he says, “because it’s such a big group. If there were just 15 of us it might be easier, but we need all these musicians to get the particular sounds we want.

“Not that our payroll is exceptionally high, but with 22 men who have to be treated like professionals, and who don’t want to double up on hotel rooms, it’s a problem. You can’t just get a big rope and tie a bunch of 19-year-olds together and say, ‘Hey, come on fellers, we’re going on the road.’ The youngest guy in our band, Steve Wallace, the bass player, is 30. Our oldest member is over 60.”

Despite the lack of continuous work, the McConnell ensemble is remarkably stable; there have been no changes in permanent personnel since the last California trip. This is reflected in the spirit and cohesion the orchestra brings to its finely textured library of standard tunes and originals by McConnell and his fellow writers, Ian McDougall and Rick Wilkins.

The Canadian jazz scene in general is going through an upsurge that is reflected in the number of festivals taking place each summer. Next week the McConnell band will take part, along with Torme and Phil Woods, in the opening concert of the Toronto International Festival. The Montreal Festival begins June 27 and will run for 10 days with about 700 American and Canadian musicians.

“They all use Americans predominantly,” says McConnell “because that’s where the jazz people are. In fact, that’s who the jazz people are!”

Such modesty is unnecessary. McConnell is speaking about the country that has given us Oscar Peterson, Gil Evans, Paul Bley, Maynard Ferguson, Georgie Auld and many promising young talents such as pianist Lorraine Desmarais. Not to mention the 21 gifted sidemen, many of them celebrated in their own right, who make up the ranks of the McConnell band.

Summing up his present situation, McConnell observes, “We’re really pretty lucky. The album with Torme, which will be out soon on Concord Jazz Records, will get worldwide distribution; soon after, the orchestra will make an instrumental album that will probably come out on MCA. Who knows? We might yet wind up in Europe or Japan after all.”