JAZZ REVIEW : A No-Holds-Barred Return for Bill Berry

A large jazz orchestra is as viable as its library and as valid as the ability of the musicians to interpret it. As Bill Berry demonstrated Friday at Donte’s, when these two requirements interact the results can make for some very healthy sounds.

The cornetist’s group reassembles only occasionally, with a slightly shifting dramatis personae, but the togetherness of these 16 men is positively inspiring. From the no-holds-barred opener, Billy Byers’ “Doodle Oodle,” through an hour-long set liberally sprinkled with Ellingtonia, the biting brass section, the five beautifully unified saxes and the potent rhythm backup merchants (Ross Tompkins, Paul Gormley and Frank Capp) cut a swaggering swath through the big band mainstream.

Along with the more familiar Ellington pieces (“Sophisticated Lady” was a vehicle for Jack Nimitz’s bold baritone sax), there were several arcane examples of the Duke’s oeuvre : “It’s Bad to Be Forgotten,” a splendid Nat Pierce chart employing call-and-response effects with trumpets and reeds; “Festival Junction” with Jack Kelso on clarinet and Buster Cooper on trombone; “Rockabye River,” with Marshal Royal, whose alto sax was even better displayed on Billy Strayhorn’s heartbreakingly poignant “Blood Count.”

There were non-Ellington delights too: Lanny Morgan in a magnificent display of chops on “Cherokee,” and Berry himself in a touching piece by the late Richie Kamuca, “When Love Has Gone.”

A third requirement might be added: A big band is as powerful as its lead trumpeter. With Frank Szabo in this vital role, reaching for the unreachable when the arrangements call for it, there was excitement along with the moments of languorous beauty. The Berry band, despite its here-today-and-gone-for-weeks schedule, remains one of the most valuable examples of the genre it represents.