Sunday, June 10, 2012

The Brussels Jazz Orchestra – Meeting Colours


© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.


“The music on this record is absolutely outstanding, both in terms of artistic content and in superior form of presentation: within the framework of Bert Joris’ beautiful big band arrangements.

As for the many new compositions included in this album, they represent Philip Catherine’s most recent and successful attempt to develop a new thematic composition language, without sacrificing his well-established and very personal form of musical expression both in writing and on the guitar.

Each new piece has a peculiar and strong musical personality. …

The Brussels Jazz Orchestra’s sound and performance are impeccable and always great and it is incredible how each arrangement, with the perfectly balanced dynamics of this great big band, enhances the beautiful melodies of the compositions. …”
- Adriano Pateri

The editorial staff at JazzProfiles plans to have a lot more to say about the Brussels Jazz Orchestra [BJO] in a future profile [perhaps, two] about this talented, musical aggregation.

Until then, you can sample the music of the BJO on the audio track to the following video tribute to the photography of the late, Helmut Newton which features his intriguingly beautiful portraits of many of the world’s famous actresses.

The tune is entitled On the Ground, one of twelve [12] composed by Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine for his meeting with the BJO entitled Meeting Colours, a compact disc that was recorded and released in 2005 on Dreyfus Jazz [FDM36675-2].

Trumpeter Bert Joris, one of the founders of the BJO, arranged all of Philip’s tunes for the band.

On the Ground is a medium tempo tune that “cooks,” or shall we say, “slow burns,” from beginning to end.

The melody is initially stated with Philip’s guitar voiced in unison with the trombones and blended in places with muted trumpets.

Philip’s solo begins at 1:42 minutes.

Be sure to checkout the shout chorus that Bert creates starting at 3:03 minutes with Philip’s guitar phrased an octave higher, but again, in unison with the band, especially the closing portion with the sax section from 3:53 – 4:23 minutes.