The Nashville Musician — July - September 2024

The Chris McDonald Jazz Orchestra

It’s About Time

Constant Dreamer Records

It’s About Time is a powerful musical statement by one of Nashville’s finest arrangers, composers, and bandleaders — longtime Local 257 member trombonist Chris McDonald. The album features a Who’s Who of world-class players, including a multigenerational blend of Music City’s excellent jazz community, with a few special guests thrown in for good measure. The album cover speaks volumes about the collaborative nature of this project, which is one of the best big band records you will ever hear.

The core musicians include saxophonists Mark Douthit, Jeff Coffin, Jimmy Bowland and Ryan Middagh, trumpeters Steve Patrick, Mike Haynes, Emmanuel Echem, Jeff Bailey, and Mike Casteel (Local 802), trombonists Roger Bissell, Barry Green, Roy Agee, Ernie Collins, and keyboardist Pat Coil. The rhythm section personnel varies from song to song, and includes guitarists Tom Hemby, Pat Bergeson, Mark Baldwin, and Andy Reiss, and bassists Craig Nelson, Brian Allen, Gary Lunn, and Jim Ferguson. The list of all-star drummers includes Bob Mater, Keith Carlock, Danny Gottlieb, Jordan Perlson, and Dennis Chambers (Local 40-503), and percussionist Glen Caruba. The string section, led by David Davidson, includes many of Local 257’s finest players as well. Everyone involved brough their “A-Game” and the results are phenomenal.

The album opens with a surprising reinvention of the ‘70s rock classic “Roundabout” by the British prog-rock group Yes, that perfectly sets the stage for the musical adventures to come. McDonald’s spellbinding arrangement honors the complexity and ever-shifting sonic tapestry of the original record, while taking it to new areas of harmony and rhythm. Both Joel Frahm’s tenor sax and Hemby’s guitar soar over the intense rhythms of Carlock, Lunn, and Caruba. The rest of the album lives up to the high standard of the opening track, and McDonald and company take the listener on a journey through many variations of styles and sounds.

“Stranger Danger” is a smokin’ shuffle groove featuring special guest trombonist James Pankow from the group Chicago, and the dynamics and interplay between him, Coffin, and Echem are fantastic as the band twists and turns beneath. “Bondade Mora Aqui,” with Chambers on drums, is a propulsive and melodic piece, with Coil’s nimble playing and Agee’s trombone leading the way. “If The Things We Said Were True” is a gorgeous original featuring Nando Lauria on vocals, with Gottlieb and Allen laying down a deep groove with Baldwin’s elegant guitar standing out as well.

The lush melodicism of “Just Take My Hand” brings to mind Gil Evans, and Bissell’s trombone leads the way, perfectly paired with Douthit’s alto and Echem’s trumpet. The constantly shifting textures of McDonald’s arrangement ebb and flow beautifully, with a nod to Count Basie at the end. The hard swinging “DoMo” is dedicated the late Doug Moffet, and the tune and arrangement is built around a previously recorded sax solo from 2017. His unique spirit and great playing is uplifting and a joy to hear one more time.

“Corean Fantasy” is inspired by the late great Chick Corea, and captures his essence perfectly, featuring great playing by Coil, an earthy flute solo by Coffin, and great playing from Mater, Allen, and Caruba. David Foster’s song “You Can Have Me Anytime” is the album’s only other cover, and McDonald’s beautiful arrangement features superb high register trumpet from Patrick, and tasty guitar from Bergeson.

Versatile vocalist Wendy Moten is a special guest on McDonald’s “A Song is but a Dream” and sounds very comfortable singing about the joys of creativity, and once again the arrangement shifts and spins in unpredictable and fabulous ways.

The album closes with “It’s Been a Long Time” which features two of Nashville’s most iconic jazz players, George Tidwell on flugelhorn and Denis Solee on tenor sax, along with Ferguson’s deep upright bass. This sentimental tune brings it all back home and is a perfect ending to an album that bears repeated listening.

Kudos to Chris McDonald, all the musicians, and everyone involved, especially his longtime collaborator, engineer and coproducer Dan Rudin, for creating a timeless classic with this record. The variety and subtleties of these arrangements and performances are deep, and McDonald and friends completely avoid clichés and keep it real from beginning to end. In a truly American musical genre that thrives on progression and moving forward, It’s About Time is the perfect title for an album that brings a fresh approach to instrumental music. Jazz is alive and well in Nashville, and this album is definitive proof of that.