Karolina Strassmayer

Marshall Gilkes & WDR Big Band - Always Forward (2018) {Alternate Side Records ‎ASR 010}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Official Digital Download (bandcamp.com) -> 472 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 190 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 2018 Westdeutscher Rundfunk / Alternate Side Records | ‎ASR 010
Jazz / Modern Big Band / Progressive Jazz / Modern Arrangement / Trombone

Trombonist, composer and arranger Marshall Gilkes released his first album with the Cologne-based WDR Big Band in 2015. Three years later, he delivers Always Forward, a follow-up recording that celebrates the big band sound, pays respect to the arrangers that have shaped and influenced him, and shines a much-needed light on where big band music is headed.

Homecoming. It is hardly surprising that several jazz compositions are known by this name. Especially for the continuously travelling improvisers, those post-modern nomads, to return home to their families is something he/she is longing for during the continuous loop of aeroplane-hotel-stage-aeroplane (even if he/she is longing to be back on the road after a few days at home…). Home can mean many different things: for some it is being on stage, for others it is an imaginary place, only to be found in their dreams. However, you may also associate homecoming with Vince Mendoza’s return to his acknowledged first love, jazz. Or his reunion with the orchestra he feels deeply connected with for already more than two decades, the WDR Big Band. Maybe the word makes you think of the happy opportunity to once again write your own music. The word has all of these and many more meanings, all of them are coming together in this particular homecoming.

Begin Again, Hersch's new Palmetto release featuring the Cologne-based WDR Big Band, arranged and conducted by six-time Grammy winner Vince Mendoza, serves as both an expertly curated overview of the pianist's oeuvre and a singular new entry in his expansive discography. The album features nine of Hersch's original compositions, plucked from throughout his various projects and preferred formats, including one previously unrecorded piece.