December 2008

Darrel Katz & Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra
The Same Thing
Cadence Jazz

By Bill Milkowski

This is an ambitious big-band project by composer-arranger-conductor Darrel Katz with provocative text by poet Paula Tatarunis that speaks of our anxiety-ridden times—check out “December 30, 1994” (about a killing spree at a Boston women’s health clinic) and the satirical “I’m Me and You’re Not Ha Ha.” There’s also a great bluesy swing rendition of Willie Dixon’s “The Same Thing” and a gospel-tinged salute to an R&B legend in “Everybody Loves Ray Charles.” Listen for shades of Mingus, Carla Bley and the AACM.