Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Big Bands Are Back, Baby!

Big bands have been making some of the most interesting and pleasurable music in jazz today. If you haven’t heard of them already, these groups are worth your attention: John Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Orrin Evans’s Captain Black Big Band and Maria Schneider’s Jazz Orchestra.

Image by Courtesy of Ezra Weiss

There is also a new big band album from the pianist Ezra Weiss, “Our Path to This Moment,” which may not sit in the same elevated ranks as the groups listed above. But it is as refined a statement as any jazz musician, recording for the first time with an orchestra, could make.

Weiss, who is based in Portland, Ore., has recorded with big bands before — as on “Get Happy,” his 2007 release — but never as a big band proper. He’s an experienced arranger and composer; it only makes sense that he should put out such an album now.

On “Our Path To This Moment,” Weiss chose The Rob Scheps Big Band, a 17-piece affair, to play his music. Weiss only joins in on three tracks, having Ramsey Embick play piano for the majority of the CD. But the arrangements are his, and save for two covers — “It’s You Or No One” and “Wayfaring Stranger” — so are the tunes.

Weiss’s songs have a prophetic air. They’re powerful and well-suited to a large ensemble. At points muted trumpets, layered above the dry voicing of the reeds, shine brilliantly. But despite the brassy intensity, some of these tracks — “Rise and Fall” and “Jessie’s Song,” for instance — operate at a cool remove, much like the music of the late pianist and big band leader Stan Kenton. (Like Kenton, too, Weiss seems to favor latin rhythms.)

The best songs on “Our Path to This Moment” are the ones that envelop you, and draw you in. Those include the first track, a slightly Sephardic tune which bears the album’s name; “The Promise,” pretty and balladic, and the last track, “Wayfaring Stranger,” a powerful rendition.

The trumpeter Greg Gisbert, a guest on the album who has played with Maria Schneider, joins in on three songs, the first and last among them. He’s got a lovely tone, smooth and dry. It comes through most clearly on “Wayfaring Stranger,” which starts out plaintively, evoking a mystery similar to that of Maynard Ferguson’s “Olé.”

Weiss will probably have to form a big band of his own if he really wants to find his sound. But this album is a promising start.

Listen to the Rob Scheps Big Band play ‘Our Path to This Moment’ by Ezra Weiss:

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.