For any composer the jazz orchestra has always been about much more than expanding the soundscape, it represents a leap of faith where artists dare their own capabilities and imagine what’s possible. That’s why seminal orchestral jazz music of Gil Evans, Carla Bley, Ellington, Sun Ra and beyond carries such a potent thrill and why any new explorer on the big band horizon draws attention. Berlin based band leader/ saxophonist/composer Fabia Mantwill certainly turned heads with her debut album ‘EM.PERIENCE‘, a breathtaking intro into her orchestral fascination and now comes the follow up ‘IN.SIGHT‘ on GroundUP Music.
The new release finds the irrepressible Mantwill upping the stakes once more. As if writing for, sonically shaping and inspiring the thirty plus members of the Fabia Mantwill Orchestra was not enough, this sophomore album sees her composing collaboratively with Michael League, the Snarky Puppy founder and Greek soundtrack creator Magdalini Giannikou. That might suggest that IN.SIGHT could pull in different directions but this trio have shaped a sound that in many ways builds on Mantwill’s expansive, genre fluid style. As she admits through such sharing “I discovered that this didn’t make me lose my voice as a composer or my signature as an orchestrator – quite the opposite…It helped me sharpen and amplify my own ideas.”
Such focus and clarity of expression hits you immediately with the opener Satoyama. The full-bodied elegance of the string introduction, the folksy acoustic guitar patterns, the steep orchestral climbs as the tune soars skywards; this is a flowing overture of warmth and wonder, an absorbing sonic impression of a landscape hinted at by the piece’s title.
Perhaps even more than on Mantwill’s ‘jazzier’ debut, IN.SIGHT thrives on global music influences enriching the tunes. Maybe this is where co-composer Magdalini Giannikou’s intuition underpins the development of the Orchestra’s sound. Circular plays out like a travelogue, journeying through the Orient to some exotic destination. There’s a clean, clipped locomotive momentum to the piece, the ensemble picking phrases, singing out brass lines as a bass-line pumps. Momi Maiga’s Kora solo trills and tumbles with a fearless dexterity until a rattling timbale break and David Soyza’s calming vibes bring the piece to a satisfied halt.
Such solo contributions on IN.SIGHT are never superfluous, they are integral to each tunes’ singular energy. On the European flavoured Sleeping Giant, a tune which surges between melodrama and suspense, Morris Kliphuis’s heart -warming French Horn is allowed to stretch out cosily in its own time before the pulse intensifies. To match the upturn the accordion of Goran Stevanovich breezes in, fingers fluttering and keys clacking as the piece rises to the drift of strings.
Melody and harmony may excel in the Fabia Mantwill Orchestra’s care but the thrust of rhythm and syncopation are never overlooked. You can sense the vibrancy of Michael League’s Snarky Puppy/Metropole Orkest experience in the grooving funk of Whirl The Wheel where the merger with lush strings echo the glory of Philly soul. Plus League’s band mate in the exceptional Bokanté ,Roosevelt Collier, raises the heat with a scorching pedal steel moment. Olhos hides its rhythmic intent well with a tense, string quivering opening before it shimmies into a luxuriant swing, which is as far any big band conventions go on this curio of a tune . Sure, there’s a brass-led commentary but the strings sculpt a more Mediterranean scene, cascading around the thermals as Anat Cohen’s swooping clarinet somersaults to a satisfied rest.
There’s clearly a soundtrack panorama imagined in the Fabia Mantwill Orchestra’s music throughout IN.SIGHT but these compositions have more purpose than being purely atmospheric or ambient. To see the album as an easy listening encounter ignores its detail, finesse and tireless musicality. There’s something fresh around every revolution here. Closing track Fairy Glen may have that familiar Mancini bloom but the cascading strings are soon pierced by Kurt Rosenwinkel’s Metheney-meets-Jeff Beck fretboard fluency. As the tune becomes friskier, a jaunty Penguin Café skip emerges from the orchestral bursts, before the gentlest of come downs lets the magic whisper away.
Throughout IN.SIGHT the judgement of Mantwill with her co-composers League and Giannikou remains impeccable. Yes the whole set is giddily packed with stylistic twists but nothing feels forced or overwrought and knowing when to pare things back remains high on their agenda. Fabia Mantwill is clearly an emerging force to be reckoned with in the contemporary jazz world and this album marks another significant step forwards.
Get your copy of ‘IN.SIGHT’ by Fabia Mantwill Orchestra from your local record store or direct from Bandcamp HERE
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