| 1 CD |
€ 19.95
|
Preorder |
| Label Challenge Records |
UPC 0608917360127 |
Catalogue number CR 73601 |
Release date 04 April 2025 |
"Primal Colors," composed by renowned jazz artist Jim McNeely, is an extraordinary collaboration between the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and the Frankfurt Radio Big Band. This album presents a groundbreaking musical exploration of colors—both visual and emotional—interpreted through the fusion of jazz and classical orchestration.
Inspired by the concept of primary colors and their primal significance, McNeely extends the palette to include black and white, delving deep into the symbolic and cultural meanings of each hue. The album spans five main movements, representing black, yellow, red, blue, and white, interspersed with interludes that serve as bridges between the musical shades.
Each movement showcases intricate compositions blending the unique identities of the symphony orchestra and jazz ensemble, avoiding fusion into a single style. Instead, McNeely masterfully contrasts their "musical dialects," creating dynamic interactions ranging from harmonious cooperation to dramatic conflict. Soloists from both ensembles, including soprano saxophonist Heinz-Dieter Sauerborn, flugelhornist Axel Schlosser, and guitarist Martin Scales, add vivid, personal interpretations that enhance the musical storytelling.
The compositions feature diverse influences, such as Indian ragas, classical modes, and blues traditions, while emphasizing McNeely's abstract approach to capturing the essence of color. From the dark and mysterious "Black" to the radiant and encompassing "White," each piece is rich with layered orchestration and emotional depth, resonating with both visual and auditory associations.
Jim McNeely was born in Chicago, Illinois. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois, and moved to New York City in 1975. In 1978, he joined the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band. He spent six years as a featured soloist with that band and its successor, Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra (now the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra).
In 1981, he began a four-year tenure as pianist/composer with the Stan Getz Quartet. From 1990 until 1995, he was the pianist in the Phil Woods Quintet. In 1996, he re-joined the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra as pianist. He is still associated with the Vanguard Orchestra as composer-in-residence.
From 1998 to 2002, McNeely was chief conductor of the DR Big Band in Copenhagen, Denmark.[1] As of 2011, he was chief conductor of the HR (Hessischer Rundfunk) Big Band in Frankfurt, Germany. He is currently their Composer-in-Residence. He has appeared as guest with many of Europe's leading jazz orchestras such as the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw (the Netherlands), the WDR Big Band (Cologne, Germany), the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra (Sweden) and the Swiss Jazz Orchestra. McNeely also leads his own tentet, his own trio, and appears as soloist at concerts and festivals worldwide. He has recorded more than 20 albums as leader, receiving twelve Grammy nominations between 1997 and 2019.
As part of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, he received a Grammy Award for the album Monday Night Live at the Village Vanguard in 2008.[2][3]
McNeely is professor emeritus at Manhattan School of Music,[4] and is former musical director of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop.
A former resident of Montclair, New Jersey,[5] and Maplewood, New Jersey he now resides in Owls Head, Maine .
source: Wikipedia
The Frankfurt Radio Big Band unites seventeen outstanding musicians who not only enjoy a high reputation as soloists. Daily rehearsals and concerts, as well as the highest artistic standards, form an ensemble that can meet any challenge with ease. The Frankfurt Radio Big Band regularly explores the possibilities of a contemporary jazz orchestra and transcends stylistic boundaries - for example, when it develops new projects together with Mongolian or North African musicians, with pop stars or with renowned composers of new music. At the same time, beyond any museality, it keeps the great tradition of big band jazz alive with programs ranging from Jelly Roll Morton to Duke Ellington and Gil Evans to Peter Herbolzheimer.
The Frankfurt Radio Big Band has invited and continues to invite greats from the international jazz scene to Hessen to bring their music to the stage in big band format. For almost all projects, the music is newly arranged or composed. To this end, the Frankfurt Radio Big Band works with a number of top-class arrangers and conductors - first and foremost with its Composer in Residence Jim McNeely, whose arrangements have repeatedly earned the highest praise from musicians, critics and audiences alike.
In order to pass on the flame of big band jazz, the Frankfurt Radio Big Band is committed to supporting young musicians. Numerous offers provide young people with intensive, up-close musical experiences and motivate young musicians to be active themselves.
With diverse concert programs performed at the highest level, the Frankfurt Radio Big Band appeals to listeners with a wide range of preferences. All concert projects are recorded for radio or released on CDs.
Famed for its outstanding wind section, its powerful strings and its dynamic playing culture, the orchestra of the Hessischer Rundfunk (German Public Radio of Hesse) together with its Music Director Alain Altinoglu is associated with musical excellence but also with an interesting and varied repertoire.
With innovative concert formats, internationally successful digital offerings and CD productions, as well as its constant presence in important music centers in Europe and Asia, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony underlines its prominent position within the European orchestral landscape and has an outstanding reputation worldwide.
Known for its groundbreaking world premiere recordings of the original versions of Bruckner's symphonies and the first complete digital recording of all Mahler symphonies, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony established a tradition in the interpretation of Romantic literature, which radiated from the longtime Music Director and current Honorary Conductor Eliahu Inbal to his successors Dmitri Kitaenko and Hugh Wolff, and on to the era of today's Conductor Laureate Paavo Järvi and to Andrés Orozco-Estrada, who last led the orchestra for seven years with great success as Music Director.
From its very inception, the orchestra displayed a firm commitment to both traditional and contemporary music under its first Music Director Hans Rosbaud. Following the war and during reconstruction, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony grew with Kurt Schröder, Winfried Zillig and Otto Matzerath at the helm, finally achieving international standing between the 1960s and 1980s under Dean Dixon and Eliahu Inbal, with guest performances worldwide and the production of multi-award-winning records.
Weitere InformationenJim McNeely was born in Chicago, Illinois. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois, and moved to New York City in 1975. In 1978, he joined the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band. He spent six years as a featured soloist with that band and its successor, Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra (now the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra).
In 1981, he began a four-year tenure as pianist/composer with the Stan Getz Quartet. From 1990 until 1995, he was the pianist in the Phil Woods Quintet. In 1996, he re-joined the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra as pianist. He is still associated with the Vanguard Orchestra as composer-in-residence.
From 1998 to 2002, McNeely was chief conductor of the DR Big Band in Copenhagen, Denmark.[1] As of 2011, he was chief conductor of the HR (Hessischer Rundfunk) Big Band in Frankfurt, Germany. He is currently their Composer-in-Residence. He has appeared as guest with many of Europe's leading jazz orchestras such as the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw (the Netherlands), the WDR Big Band (Cologne, Germany), the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra (Sweden) and the Swiss Jazz Orchestra. McNeely also leads his own tentet, his own trio, and appears as soloist at concerts and festivals worldwide. He has recorded more than 20 albums as leader, receiving twelve Grammy nominations between 1997 and 2019.
As part of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, he received a Grammy Award for the album Monday Night Live at the Village Vanguard in 2008.[2][3]
McNeely is professor emeritus at Manhattan School of Music,[4] and is former musical director of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop.
A former resident of Montclair, New Jersey,[5] and Maplewood, New Jersey he now resides in Owls Head, Maine .
source: Wikipedia
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