"Cube" (Shanti) is a big band and vocal suite based on the Biblical events of Easter. (Reviewing it at Christmastime isn't out of place, considering the main character in each celebration.) The album features an all-star European and American group led by Swiss reedman and composer Fritz Renold. Helen Savari-Renold, his wife, handles vocals.
The 10 performances, from “Grave Intrigues," early warnings of Jesus' trial to come, to the finale, the title composition, with Jesus reigning in heaven.
Renold writes with an appreciation for Duke Ellington's brass and woodwind colors, Stan Kenton's brassy grandeur, Dizzy Gillespie's use of Afro-Cuban rhythms and Stravinsky's harmonic audacity. Middle Eastern modes snake through performances as written melody or improvised motifs.
Well-integrated solos abound: Amir Elsaffar's sinuous, buzzing trumpet and Miroslav Vitous' dark, ominous bass on “The Potter's Field"; Donny McCaslin's register-leaping tenor saxophone on “The Resurrection"; and Vincent Gardner's swinging trombone on “Ascension," to name a few. Drummer Adam Nussbaum and percussionist Willy Kotoun prove fine groove masters. Savari-Renold sings with a high-art concept akin to what Ellington envisioned for vocalists in his sacred suites.
The 10 performances, from “Grave Intrigues," early warnings of Jesus' trial to come, to the finale, the title composition, with Jesus reigning in heaven.
Renold writes with an appreciation for Duke Ellington's brass and woodwind colors, Stan Kenton's brassy grandeur, Dizzy Gillespie's use of Afro-Cuban rhythms and Stravinsky's harmonic audacity. Middle Eastern modes snake through performances as written melody or improvised motifs.
Well-integrated solos abound: Amir Elsaffar's sinuous, buzzing trumpet and Miroslav Vitous' dark, ominous bass on “The Potter's Field"; Donny McCaslin's register-leaping tenor saxophone on “The Resurrection"; and Vincent Gardner's swinging trombone on “Ascension," to name a few. Drummer Adam Nussbaum and percussionist Willy Kotoun prove fine groove masters. Savari-Renold sings with a high-art concept akin to what Ellington envisioned for vocalists in his sacred suites.
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