The Flying Horse Big Band - A Message from the Flying Horse Big Band (2023)

The Flying Horse Big Band, who are they? What is it? On the band’s website, it can be read: “UCF’s flagship jazz ensemble, the Flying Horse Big Band, swings under the direction of Jeff Rupert. American-Armenian jazz singer Lucy Yeghiazaryan takes the stage with The Jazz Professors, followed by trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and the Flying Horse Big Band.”

It is, therefore, an ambitious high-level Big Band that takes on what can only be called “classics” now, including Wayne Sorter, Horace Silver, Benny Colson, Don Sickler—two crucial points in this kind of Big Band: the arrangements and the musicians. In both cases, there is enough to leave you breathless in the face of so much talent and intelligence combined. Achieving a constant groove with a Big Band is a feat, and in this regard, the success is total; the musicians’ playing is formidable, efficient, and as precise as a razor blade.

What a pleasure to hear all these composers played in this way; one can even speak of a magnificent rewriting, giving a perpetual movement to this album that rushes like horses in full gallop. The album is well thought out, as in ten tracks, one gets a fairly precise idea of what the Big Band delivers on stage. Believe me, it’s certainly the kind of concert that leaves you smiling and with images filling your head. Over the years, the Flying Horse Big Band has welcomed artists such as Randy Brecker, Bob Berg, Michael Mossman, James Moody, Nick Brignola, Harry Allen, Steve Turre, Rodney Holmes, Terry Gibbs, Marvin Stamm, Mulgrew Miller, John Swana, Kevin Mahogany, Lou Donaldson, and Eric Alexander.

This doesn’t surprise anyone listening to this flawless album on all levels because it is just as enjoyable to listen to the Big Band as a whole as it is to the solos that reveal the personalities of the musicians.

Upon reflection, this group represents a bit of the diversity of various teachings that lead to the jazz of many artists, some of whom will captivate the audience in the years to come. Here, jazz is an institution that preserves the repertoire and offers wonderful diversity, while also being able to evolve and modernize this musical genre. “A Message From” is life, joy, rhythm, discoveries, a musical journey, and an album that Bayou Blue Radio and Paris-Move publications place in the “essential” stack.