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musical assistant.

From Brookmeyer, she learned how to


create large-scale musical structures that add up to more
than just a string of solos; from Evans, she learned how
to blend instrumental colors with a Ravel-like precision
and clarity.

COMING ABOUT MARIA SCHNEIDER JAZZ ORCHESTRA

Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson made their


first important big-band recordings seventy years ago,
back when Calvin Coolidge was in the White House
and Charlie Parker was in short pants. A lot of water
has gone under the bridge since then. Big bands are still
around, and still as musically vital as they were in 1926
but they dont sound the same. The dance-oriented
bands of the 30s and 40s are now a thing of the distant
past. Todays big bands perform in clubs and concert
halls, and their music is for listening, not dancing, so
much so that a growing number of musicians prefer to
call them jazz orchestras. No matter what you call
them, though, theres something about the sound of
large jazz bands that continues to make audiences sit
up and take notice, and causes composers to grab for
their pens. Thats why seventeen of New Yorks top jazz
musicians get together every Monday night at Visiones,
a New York nightclub, to play the music of Maria
Schneider. They could be making better money doing
almost anything else, from recording jingles to doing
clinics. But Monday nights at Visiones arent about
money: theyre about music. So is this CD.
If youve been to Visiones to hear the Maria Schneider
Jazz Orchestra or if youve heard Evanescence, the
bands 1994 debut album you wont be surprised to
learn that Coming About is no ordinary big-band record.
You wont hear any blues in D flat, or standard-issue
flagwavers with a shout chorus tacked on at the end.
The centerpiece, Scenes from Childhood, is a suite in three
movements that begins with the angry howl of air-raid
sirens (simulated on a theremin by baritone saxophonist
Scott Robinson) and ends, half an hour later, with
iridescent clouds of sound that shimmer into silence. It
is one of the most ambitious jazz compositions heard
on record in years, and it makes perfect sense when you
look at Marias resum: she studied composition with
Bob Brookmeyer, and spent three years as Gil Evans

Working with these two masters of big-band writing


inspired Maria to develop a completely original sound
of her own. I think my music has a strong element of
fantasy in it, she says, explaining that the inspirations
for her compositions are as likely as not to be visual:
dreams, paintings, memories. If I dont have a dramatic
plane to put myself on, she adds, Im at a complete
loss for coming up with notes. Actually, I think of my
pieces as little personalities. Theyre like my kids.
After I finish a piece, it takes a while for me to forget
the struggle of composing it. Then, all of a sudden, it
becomes something separate from me, and the band
takes control of it, and shapes and develops it, and it has
its own life.
Scenes from Childhood, commissioned in 1995 by the
Monterey Jazz Festival, is a good example of Marias
method: each of the three movements was inspired by
a youthful memory. Bombshelter Beast, the first section,
recalls the gut-wrenching fear of illogical things Im
almost embarrassed to admit. You know, monsters
under the bed that kind of thing. Only I was terrified
that these monsters would come out of the bombshelter
my father built back in the early 60s. And atomic
bombs, too. I thought about the bomb every time
the air raid siren sounded, or whenever I heard the
Emergency Broadcast System announcements on the
TV. Remember? This is only a test. And if A-bombs
didnt freak you out, there was always the next tornado
to worry about we got a lot of tornados in Minnesota,
where I grew up. I tried to put all that fear into
Bombshelter Beast.
Night Watchmen is an eerie nocturnal landscape set
outside Marias childhood home. We lived near a
flax plant on the outskirts of town, she recalls. The
atmosphere was surreal: men working in the mill by
day, watchmen making the rounds at night. I remember
their shadows - they passed by our home, and around
the warehouses and I remember the strange feelings
I had watching them. Thats what Night Watchmen is
about: imagination and fantasy. And about discovering
your own sensuality: attraction, repulsion, confusion.
The tension built up in the first two movements
is dispelled in Coming About, a major-key musical
reminiscence of summer days spent sailing on a
Minnesota lake. Coming about is a sailing term for
taking a new tack. You get a real feeling of fulfillment
when a gust of wind ripples its way toward you from
across the lake, taking the sails, and you along with it.
Not all of Marias pieces are as specifically
impressionistic as Scenes from Childhood. Take El
Viento, commissioned by Carnegie Hall in 1994 for the
Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra. The title is Spanish for
the wind, and the feel is flamenco-inspired. But this

is no picture postcard from a musical souvenir shop:


El Viento is a true composition for jazz orchestra, a
piece in which color and structure come together in a
coherent whole. I wanted a chamber-orchestra feel,
Maria says. I like lots of room for the vibrance of the
instruments. I also want improvisation to be interwoven
with composition. I like to use soloists to develop my
pieces to help me get from point A to point B. Thats
why I usually have them playing over different musical
material. And in El Viento, the solo colors also help the
piece build to a climax. First Ben Monder, with his big,
round sound. Then Larry Farrell, whose sound is dark.
Then Greg Gisbert on trumpet so rich and brilliant.
Two tracks on Coming About, Love Theme from
Spartacus and Giant Steps, were written by other people,
Alex North and John Coltrane. Not surprising, both
come out sounding like pure Maria Schneider, especially
Giant Steps, in which she expands Coltranes whirlwind
harmonic
obstacle
course into
a bristlingly
complex study
in augmented
chordal
relationships
(which is also
perhaps not
coincidentally
the hardestswinging cut
on the album).
Thats one way
to tell a real
jazz composer
from what
a musician
friend of mine calls a composeur: his arrangements are
every bit as individual-sounding as his compositions.
Ellington was like that, and so is Maria. Every note she
writes is as personal as a fingerprint.
I think that if you stick to the thing that you really love
and work really hard at it, Maria says, you can create
your own market. Your music will be unique, and people
will come to hear you. And so they have. After four
uphill years, the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra has
finally beaten the long odds against any band seeking
to develop a musical personality of its own. All those
Monday nights at Visiones have welded her seventeen
players into an ensemble worthy of comparison with
the best jazz orchestras of the postwar era. Marias
musicians arent swamped by her intense individuality
they thrive on it. They understand her music, and play it
with passion and grace, and theyve never played it more
excitingly than they do here. Coming About leaves no
doubt whatsoever that Maria Schneider, at the age of 35,
has come into her own. If theres anybody in the world
writing better for big band, I havent heard it.
Terry Teachout (1995)

Thank you:
To Matthias Winckelmann for believing in my work, my parents
to whom the piece Coming About is dedicated to, and my hero
Bob Brookmeyer; to Tim Jackson and the Monterey Jazz Festival,
Mirka Siwek and the Norrbotten Big Band, Peter Larson and the
Danish Radio Big Band, and George Wein, Jon Faddis and the
Carnegie Hall Jazz Band for their commissions; to the Stockholm
Jazz Orchestra, UMO Orchestra, Cologne Radio Orchestra, Espoo
Big Band and Blechschaden Big Band for providing me with the
opportunities to make music with them, to Toots Thielemans for
the divine experience of working with him, to Donald Elfman for
his hard work, and to Paulo Gil for bringing us over the Pacific for
the first time.
A special thanks to Goran Olson, Ken Jablonski, Bob Nowak,
Debbi Smith, Lennie DiMuzio at Zildjian, Jim Rupp, Gustavo
Bergalli, Marlene Whittemore, Nancy Anderson, Alex Radocchia,
Heidi and Kate Schneider, and Windom, my childhood scene for
the wealth of my support theyve all given me. My deep gratitude
to Visiones for giving my orchestra a wonderful home on Monday
nights the past three years, and much love to the many players who
breathe life into my music every week.
Maria Schneider (1995)
Produced by Maria Schneider
Recorded on November 9 & 10, 1995
at Clinton Recording Studios, NYC

Recorded and Mixed by


Jim Anderson
Assistant Engineers
Ted Morgan and Brian Kingman
Mixed at Effanel Music, NYC

Remastered by Gene Paul


at DB Plus (2008)

Photography by Jimmy Katz

Reissue Design by Andrew Neesley


Rick Margitza appears courtesy of Challenge Records.
Greg Gisbert appears courtesy of Criss Cross Jazz.
Tim Hagans appears courtesy of EMI/Blue Note
Records. Scott Robinson plays Vandoren reeds and
mouthpieces. Tim Horner plays Sonor drums and
Istanbul cymbals.

1. El Viento 11:17
Ben Monder guitar
Larry Farrell trombone
Greg Gisbert trumpet

6. Giant Steps 7:44


Rock Ciccarone trombone
Tim Hagans trumpet
Tim Ries alto sax

2. Love Theme from Spartacus 7:04


7. Waxwing 7:43
Rich Perry tenor sax
Greg Gisbert flgelhorn
Scenes from Childhood
Part 1:
3. Bombshelter Beast 9:43
Scott Robinson baritone sax & theremin
Ben Monder guitar
Part 2:
4. Night Watchmen 11:26
Rich Perry tenor sax
Tim Hagans trumpet
Part 3:
5. Coming About 12:48
Frank Kimbrough piano
Rick Margitza tenor sax

El Viento was commissioned by the


Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. The arrangement of Love Theme from Spartacus
was commissioned by the Danish Radio
Big Band. Scenes from Childhood
was commissioned by the Monterey
Jazz Festival. The arrangement of
Giant Steps was commissioned by the
Norrbotten Big Band.

All selections composed and


arranged by Maria Schneider,
MSF Music (ASCAP)
except (2) composed by Alex North
Northern Music Co. (ASCAP)
and (6) composed by John Coltrane
Jowcol Music Inc. (BMI)

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