Album Review: Together from Randy Brecker and Mats Holmqust with the UMO Jazz Orchestra
Album Review: Together from Randy Brecker and Mats Holmquist with the UMO Jazz Orchestra Label: Summit Records Website: www.matsholmquist.com and www.randybrecker.com Inspired by the jazz improvisations of Stan Kenton and Chick Corea, trumpet player Randy Brecker and arranger Mats Holmquist collaborate with the 18-piece UMO Jazz Orchestra from Finland for Together from Summit Records. The jazz instrumentals have a modern flare with influences of vintage swing and Big Band magnetism. Oscillating between rambunctious interplay and fluid swells, the music shows the band's agility and instinct to elaborate from each other's phrases. From a single instrument's chord pattern, other threads emerge forming a tapestry that is never-ending. Beefy arrangements are produced as each instrument adds to the compositions, extending the overall body of work. Instruments bounce off of one another, adding whorls and trills producing an ornate interweav...