JAZZ REVIEW : Bill Holman in Full Swing at Newporter

Works written in the last decade by such composers as Bob Brookmeyer, Toshiko Akiyoshi and Frank Mantooth reveal that the jazz orchestra, like its classical cousin, the symphony, is still an ensemble with an abundance of sonic possibilities.

Bill Holman is another master of the large jazz ensemble medium. During his two-set concert Friday at the Hyatt Newporter Resort, the veteran bandleader gave a wondrous display of his formidable gifts as a composer, arranger and orchestrator.

Of such magnitude were the musical fireworks that it is hard to imagine anyone not coming away at least some degree moved.

Friday’s performance was typical Holman, who--in 40 years of works for Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman and Doc Severinsen and his own band--has demonstrated that he’s in the first rank of American musical practitioners.

As always, his originals--and arrangements of others’ music--were overflowing with surprises. Sambas suddenly turned into swingers, be-bop classics were studded with atonal passages, corny ‘30s movie themes bristled with modernisms.

His “A View From the Side” was exemplary of the proceedings. It was a piece with a dual nature: complex yet hard-driving and musical. Whether complicated or more listener-friendly, Holman’s writing was ultimately swinging--and captivating.

At the outset, the ensemble offered a sparse angular line over a springy bossa nova-rock beat delivered by drummer John Perett, bassist Bruce Lett and pianist Rich Eames. The dissonance of this melody soon dissolved into less jarring, warmer tones.

But almost immediately the brasses and saxes were at it again, laying one brief, edgy melody against another the way painter Frank Stella stacks contrasting colors and forms.

Abruptly, the tempo shifted to medium fast with a swing feel, and then to the oom-pah sound of a European circus band, with Holman drawing on a rich array of orchestral tones to enhance his mood shift.

To complete this initial, pre-solo segment, Holman returned to the soothing bossa-rock feel and sharp lines came darting in briskly from various sections like Robin Hood’s Merry Men unleashing arrows on the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham’s crew.

A snappy little be-bop-like line announced the entrance of the first soloist--trombonist Rick Culver, who played with a large, creamy sound. Next came trumpeter Tony Lujan, who climaxed his intense improvisation--it ran from a crackling tonal barrage to softer tones and back--with brilliant cries, as he fought to be heard above a screaming brass section. Then, in a flash, all was quiet, and Eames could be heard softly offering piano chords.

To close this extraordinary opus, a dazzling burst of angular lines from all regions of the ensemble led to unison, on-the-money rhythmic shout--and the repose of sudden silence.

The rest of the music was equally high-minded and appealing. On the slow, undulating “Sweet Spot,” lead trumpeter Carl Saunders offered cascades of softly burnished fluegelhorn notes over a massive, glowing orchestral backdrop.

A new slow blues, “I Didn’t Ask,” found Lujan’s spare, mournful trumpet lines answered by a few moments of spontaneous soloing by the rest of the winds and brass. Bob Militello’s ruby-red, so-thick-you-could-chew-it alto sound was splendidly showcased on “Georgia on My Mind,” where a written ensemble solo section swung in the loose, easy style of saxophonist Zoot Sims--a Holman hero.

The only drawback to the evening was the knowledge that Holman’s band works so rarely--the Hyatt occasion was but his fifth performance of 1991. It’s alarming that an artist of his talent and stature is heard so infrequently.