The Blueshift Big Band - The Blueshift Big Band (2020)

The Blueshift Big Band, founded in 2017 by drummer Joel Baer and guitarist Chris Parsons, continues the legacy of big band music in Chicagoland. It began as a reading band, that is, a band playing compositions and arrangements originally written for other groups. “We both missed playing big band music,” says Joel, “and most of the rhythm spots in the big bands around town were taken.”

Their original repertoire included selections from the Count Basie, Buddy Rich, and Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Bands. Those groups are famously hard-swinging, but also served as showcases for unique compositional voices and original interpretations of music outside the jazz idiom. Did you know all three covered different Stevie Wonder tunes? Continuing that tradition, when Blue Shift began commissioning original music, it covered a great breadth of styles: not just swing, but blues, bebop, and the Beatles, singer-songwriters, fusion and funk. (Stay tuned for Blueshift’s next record, exclusively covering music from video games.) In the hands of a lesser group, the approach might seem scattershot, but Blueshift does a great job of respecting the tradition and history, swinging hard when it’s time to swing, and showcasing creative local voices — all while having a great deal of fun.

This record features two original compositions: Hum Drum is a gem from the late great Bob Ojeda that recalls the energy of the Count Basie Orchestra in which Ojeda was trumpet soloist for 15 years. This Won’t Be the Last Time is a lively samba by another trumpeter/arranger/composer: Jon Rarick. You can almost feel the sunlight on your face listening to this one. Both composers return as arrangers in the disk: Rarick with a fun take on On the Sunny Side of the Street and Ojeda with the beautiful ballad I’ve Never Been In Love Before — featuring Rarick.

Mike Pinto’s arrangement of Frank Caruso’s Sixth Sense is a beautiful tribute to the recently departed pianist and features a solo by Caruso collaborator and Chicago jazz legend Mark Colby. Aaron Whittier provides an energetic take on Weather Report’s Latin-fusion odyssey Elegant People. Too Marvelous For Words, a swing number with Latin inflection, features a bass trombone solo from arranger Nick Roach. My contribution to the record, an arrangement of Charlie Parker’s Billie’s Bounce, adapts an arrangement originally for marching band(!) in turn inspired by a solo treatment from guitarist Deen Anbar.

In addition to his guitar and co-leader duties, Chris Parsons contributes two contrasting arrangements: a swinging take on Rogers and Hart’s I Could Write a Book and an introspective jazz-waltz interpretation of singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson’s The Chain.

Blueshift’s other co-leader, Joel Baer, has many exhilarating solos throughout and is the fuel to the band’s fire. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention trumpeters Chuck Parrish and Adam Roebuck, ably splitting lead duty.

It’s August 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic is raging across the globe. In many ways, it’s been a lonely year for us all and listening back to this record, I had a Proustian reverie of the recording session: the sinking couch in the recording room, the homemade chili we shared for lunch, and, of course, the music. With the current protections and regulations in place, it would be impossible to record this album the same way. This is an artifact from a time when musicians could sit less than 6 feet from each other (without a mask!) and move great volumes of air in a small space with the singular intention of working collectively to make a dynamic, swinging sound. In a world where that experience is impossible, this record is the next best thing.