Frankfurt Radio Big Band - Jim McNeely Expeditions - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

In 2025, the jazz world lost one of it's beloved talents in the arts of composing and arranging with the passing of Jim McNeely. But before he left, McNeely completed and recorded a suite of original music for his long time favored collaborative ensemble, the Frankfurt Radio Big Band. Expeditions is quite a journey, as the music suggests adventures through sound for individual musicians that McNeely had devised unique environments for. Originally from Chicago, Jim McNeely arrived in New York City as a young pianist in 1975, finding work with legends like Ted Curson and the burgeoning younger stars of jazz, like David Liebman and John Scofield. In 1978, McNeely began playing with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band at the Village Vanguard. A year later, Bob Brookmeyer became the music director of the band when Jones left. Brookmeyer was a major influence and led McNeely into focusing more on composition. Soon, McNeely was penning suites and long form pieces for Germany's WDR Big Band and others. But it was his long relationship with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band that was the longest realized and most rewarding, as McNeely became a resident composer and arranger. It is only right that McNeely's final piece, Expeditions, was written for and performed by the Frankfurt Radio Big Band. After years of working with the Big Band, McNeely had become familiar with all of the principal soloists and section musicians. On Expeditions, McNeely made sure to write in solo features for each member of the group, fully realizing an example set by the legendary Duke Ellington, who famously composed for each member of his vaunted orchestra in mind. Expeditions was premiered and recorded at Frankfurt am Main's hr-Sendesaal, Hessischer Rudfunk on June 13, 2024. Sadly, it would turn out to be McNeely's last premiere and conducting work with the Big Band. The program begins with InchThe Gathering