Luckman Orchestra Shines in Debut

How important is the big band to jazz? The answer came bursting off the stage Saturday night at Cal State Los Angeles. The Luckman Jazz Orchestra, conducted by James Newton, making its debut with a program that embraced everything from Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus to Gil Evans, almost instantly defined why the music of large ensembles is so irresistible.

The big band is the symphony orchestra of jazz. Its four sections--saxophones, trombones, trumpets and rhythm--afford possibilities for contrast and combination comparable (despite their obvious differences) to the orchestra’s assemblage of strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. The most obvious example of its potency is the music of Ellington (and Billy Strayhorn), virtually all of it conceived for, and executed by, the ensemble Ellington managed to sustain for most of his professional life.

So it’s no surprise that composing and arranging for the big band has been a constant source of attraction for jazz writers. Despite the largely prohibitive cost factors of maintaining large ensembles, musicians are usually so eager to perform in the setting that they frequently will show up at a club to play for whatever the admission fee has to offer, or in some cases, for the sheer joy of playing.

Given the definitive role the big band has played in jazz history, as well as the substantial repertoire that exists, it’s not surprising that arts institutions have been willing to come up with support for the establishment of resident ensembles. The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra are obvious examples, as has been the presence of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl.

The establishment of the Luckman Jazz Orchestra adds an impressive new organization to the list--one with a conductor who, in Newton, has both the credentials and the determination to take the ensemble and its listeners on a fascinating and adventurous musical journey. And if Saturday night’s program was any indication, audiences can anticipate that future events will continue to explore colorful new territory.

Some of the program actually involved a look back into the music of Ellington via such early period works as “The Mooche” and the first movement of “Black, Brown and Beige,” as well as excerpts from his suites (“Sonnet for Caesar” from the “Shakespearean Suite”) and his sacred music (“Praise God” from his second sacred concert). Looking back to Ellington, like revisiting Bach, is a look forward as well, and the orchestra’s renderings--enlivened by stunning solo work from players such as saxophonists Benny Maupin and Ann Patterson, trumpeter Snooky Young, trombonist George Bohanon and pianist Lanny Hartley--superbly defined the music’s timeless qualities.

The evening was filled with other highlights: trumpeter Bobby Rodriguez’s carefully crafted rendering of the Miles Davis lead line in Gil Evans’ arrangement of Dave Brubeck’s “The Duke”; a pair of stunning romps through Charles Mingus pieces (especially “Pithecanthropus Erectus”) that cast much-needed new light on Mingus’ vital importance as a seminal jazz composer; and Newton’s employment of a technique he describes as “conduction,” in which he leads the ensemble through spontaneous, unscripted improvisation.

It was an ambitious program for any ensemble, and especially so for one making its debut. Credit Newton with having done a remarkable job, and look forward to more intriguing outings from a big jazz ensemble that does Los Angeles proud.