Description
Label Review.
2019 album arranged and conducted by Vince Mendoza.
Our Overview.
American jazz pianist, composer and band leader Fred Hersch is by and large known as a leader of trios and other small groups, ‘Begin Again’ displays another side of Hersch's appreciable talents: nine of his handsome compositions, astutely arranged and conducted by six-time Grammy Award winner Vince Mendoza and impressively performed by Germany's superb Cologne based WDR Big Band. ‘Begin Again’ offers proof, if any were needed, that Hersch is as loose and comfortable in a big-band setting as he is leading a trio, and that he is a composer whose themes blend easily into any format and the album serves as both an expertly curated overview of the pianist’s oeuvre and a singular new entry in his expansive discography.
The album features nine of Hersch’s original compositions, plucked from throughout his various projects and preferred formats, including one previously unrecorded piece. Mendoza’s impeccable orchestrations robust yet refined, essential yet understated manage to bolster Hersch’s striking gifts for melody and expressivity while also showcasing the remarkable abilities of the Grammy-winning WDR band, which DownBeat recently described as “one of Europe’s finest large jazz ensembles.”
In Ellingtonian fashion, Mendoza has through experience gained a deep understanding of the WDR’s members as distinctive voices (not to mention masterful doublers), and he applies these timbres in brilliantly coloristic ways. On ‘Begin Again’, that also means granting well-deserved solo opportunities to thoughtfully expressive players like the alto saxophonists Johan Hörlén and Karolina Strassmayer, the tenor saxophonist Paul Heller, the trumpeters Ruud Breuls and Andy Haderer, the trombonists Ludwig Nuss and Andy Hunter and the drummer Hans Dekker.
The Big Band members are: Fred Hersch: composer, piano; Vince Mendoza: arranger, conductor; Wim Both: trumpet; Rob Bruynen: trumpet; Andy Haderer: trumpet; Ruud Breuls: trumpet; Johan Horlen: alto sax; Karolina Strassmayer: alto sax; Olivier Peters: tenor sax; Paul Heller: tenor sax; Jens Neufang: baritone sax; Ludwig Nuss: trombone; Andrea Andreoli: trombone; Andy Hunter: trombone; Mattis Cederberg: bass trombone, tuba; Paul Shigihara: guitar; John Goldsby: bass; Hans Dekker: drums.