Jazz Reviews : Big-Band Sound With a New Twist

Big rehearsal bands--despite their utter inability to support themselves financially--continue to proliferate around town. Joey Sellers’ 13-piece Jazz Aggregation, yet another in the long list, showed up for a one-nighter Monday at Westwood’s Bon Appetit.

To his credit, trombonist-composer Sellers seems to be trying something a bit unusual with his ensemble. Although the instrumentation included the familiar batteries of saxophones, trombones, trumpets and rhythm, Sellers mixed up his scoring with many cross-sectional combinations--flutes with trumpets, his trombone with the saxophones, etc. Even more interesting, he included segments that called for brief, collective improvisations and a much looser, more spontaneous interaction between performers than one usually hears in such large groups.

Much of the time, this approach generated some fascinating music. But there were a few problems. On Sellers’ original “Redemption,” for example, superb solos by pianist Kai Akagi and alto saxophonist Kim Richmond were framed within a composition that seemed to have no center. Individual sections glowed with creativity, in part because of Sellers’ gifted approach to instrumentation, as well as his richly complex harmonies. But one kept wishing the piece would come together--become more a story, and less a series of colorful vignettes.

Other pieces--a ballad feature for trumpeter Clay Jenkins, a closing blues--exhibited similar uncertainties. Yet Sellers is clearly a leader/composer with a future. Big bands are probably not going to make a successful commercial comeback, but it sure would be nice if Sellers’ fine Jazz Aggregation had the opportunity to further explore some of its appealing potential.