There is always a place on Mainstream and Modern on Jazz 91.9 WCLK(Sundays 8pm) for the Jazz canon, such as it is. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Duke Ellington—when we hear a Jazz standard it's like catnip for our ears. But what really excites us is something new, something challenging. It's no different in Jazz today than it was when Bird and Diz and Monk and Kenny Clarke were inventing Bebop at Minton's Playhouse in the 1940s. If you enjoy Jazz orchestras with ambition I recommend you challenge yourself with Architecture of Storms, the new album from Remy Le Boeuf's Assembly of Shadows Jazz Orchestra. 35-year-old Composer and Multi-Instrumentalist Le Boeuf is a California native who started playing oboe as a child and then switched to saxophone before he made his way to a music education in New York City. He has received commissions from SF Jazz, The Jerome Foundation and the New York Youth Symphony. He played for a number of years with his twin brother Pascal, and he has played as a side man with Bob Mintzer's Big Band and Donnie McCaslin, as well as working with rock band Haim.
Architecture of Storms is Le Boeuf's second large ensemble/orchestra album with his "Assembly of Shadows." The record moves from relatively straight forward big band sounds that invoke Ellington, Count Basie and other classics, while at the same time playing modern music touches that evoke miminalist Philip Glass or the expansive moods of Kamasi Washington and his band. I'll play cut one off of the record, Neener Neener, on Mainstream and Modern to kick off the 10pm hour tonight. Happy listening!
