JAZZ REVIEW : Lofgren Colors Concert With Big-Band Hues

It seems that there are two types of big bands these days: those that work in the tradition of Count Basie, Woody Herman, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman or any of the other great band masters, and those that work from that tradition, using it as a jumping-off point to explore new melodic, rhythmic and harmonic territory, just as Basie, Herman, Ellington, et al, all did in their day.

Guitarist-composer Bruce Lofgren’s Jazz Orchestra is in the second camp. Wednesday at El Matador, Lofgren led his 17-piece ensemble through a long first set of his original material that infused the big-band tradition with contemporary rhythms and modern melodic content while utilizing a palette’s worth of orchestral colors.

These arrangements, with dissonant brass passages and twisted thematic material tempering moments of melodic and harmonic beauty, are thoroughly up-to-date. And, yes, they do swing.

But they rock as well. Lofgren complements his horn section with a percussionist and vibraphonist as well as drummer, electric bassist and keyboardist. Add Lofgren’s own rhythmic guitar work and you have a solid, often funky, framework for en masse explorations or solo improvisations.

Lofgren dresses his brass section with a pair of French horns, two trombones and three trumpets; his front-line saxophonists often doubled on flute, clarinet or even oboe and recorder.

The orchestra got right into this spirit with Lofgren’s “Sky Sailor,” with its swirling flute and clarinet introduction. After the rhythm section took off, the tune developed an assured warmth based on the French horns. “Banana Fusion,” driven by drummer Dave Crigger’s closed hi-hat ride, worked a crisp, somewhat edgy theme of the kind pioneered by the Brecker Brothers funk band in the late ‘70s. Guest saxophonist Sam Riney took a turn threading soul-filled tenor through the tune’s minefield of rhythmic breaks and chordal changes.

“Warm Notions,” which began as a ballad and evolved into a bouncy road tune, featured Glen Garrett’s intimate alto saxophone stylings. Trumpeter Ron King put strong chops to an up-tempo “Meridians,” while vibist John Magnusson added spunk to the blues changes of “Meet Us at the Back Door.” Keyboardist Doug Livingstone took a humorous vocal turn on “I Was Framed.”

Probably the most involved number was “East of Zamora,” a tune that opened with rattles and bird calls from the percussion section before resounding with stately fanfares sounded by flute, recorder, clarinet and French horn--passages that framed bassist Paul Morin’s expansive solo.

For his part, Lofgren, who added a fleet, lyrical improvisation to his “Armies of the Night,” seemed content sticking to his rhythm duties and letting Garrett, Riney and King do most of the soloing. Maybe he should allow himself more space to play.

In these days, with big bands finding the opportunities to work few and far between, El Matador deserves credit for booking both types of orchestras: those that continue the tradition and those that extend it, like the Joey Sellers Jazz Aggregation, the Kim Richmond Concert Jazz Orchestra (at El Matador on Wednesday) and Bruce Lofgren’s ambitious ensemble. Now that’s the best of both worlds.