Search - Mike Holober & Gotham Jazz Orchestra :: Thought Trains

My second favorite extant big band . . .

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 06/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

". . . just barely edged out by the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra. And, truth be told, if the Gotham group had as many discs out as MSJO, they very well could beat them out for the top spot.



Mike Holober, the triple threat pianist, composer, and arranger, has produced a very tasty treat with Thought Trains. Having assembled some of the finest players on the scene, including Dave Pietro, Jon Gordon, Tim Ries, and Charles Pillow on winds, Scott Wendholt and Joe Magnarelli on trumpet, Dave Gilmore on guitar, Ron Carter on bass, and John Riley on drums, as well as other lesser-known but still stellar talents, Holober gives them some wonderfully melodic and rhythmically challenging lines and wraps it all in marvelous charts and stunning arrangements creating one of the premier big-band discs in the modern jazz era.



It all comes wrapped in train motifs. Huh? I guess the idea here has to do both with the elemental power of trains linked to the nostalgia of a transportation system on the wane but still capable of evoking a strong emotional response. Map that onto a way happening Americana vibe, and you have some very powerful musical materials.



What initially strikes the listener is the strength and integrity of the compositions. Each proceeds with a distinct personal signature, but one not so idiosyncratic that average listeners, as well as those more familiar with jazz conventions, can lock into the particular vibe that's going down.



Smart composing, smart arranging, smart playing--it all adds up to a stellar disc. Not to be missed."