Don Sebesky, after starting his career as a trombonist in the 1950s, was one of the best-known jazz arrangers and conductors in the 1960s and 1970s. His 1973 double album on CTI, Giant Box, reached No. 4 on the jazz charts, during the era when contemporary West Coast jazz was making a splash on both the jazz and pop scenes. It is one of the recordings now getting the deluxe remaster/reissue treatment from Masterworks Jazz to mark CTI’s 40th anniversary.
Sebesky explains, in an interview partially re-printed in the liner notes of this reissue, that his vision was to produce a big-band album which would provide a showcase for some of the great soloists and regulars in the CTI stable — including Bob James, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, George Benson, Airto, Paul Desmond, Grover Washington Jr., Milt Jackson, Freddie Hubbard and Hubert Laws.
In addition to a Grammy nomination for “best jazz performance by a big band,” Giant Box was nominated for “best instrumental arrangement” for the opening track, “Firebirds / Birds of Fire.” It’s easy to see why it was so honored. First, what a brilliant concept: to combine Stravinsky’s iconic, dark, alternately brooding and manic 1910 Ballet Russes piece with the fully manic modal title track of Mahavishnu Orchestra’s iconic 1972 jazz fusion album, which was then barely a year old. The 14-minute medley segues back and forth between the two pieces, handing off at natural break-points.
After the opening string-section buildup from “Firebird,” a gong crash introduces the opening bars of “Birds of Fire,” a complex, soaring piece in the unusual 9/8 time signature. The first solo section goes to Hubert Laws, who shows off his tonal control as he swoops from the high to low limits of the flute’s range in a workout that suggests but doesn’t mimic John McLaughlin’s guitar pyrotechnics. Billy Cobham, who as a founding Mahavishnu member played drums on the original, gets a nice solo section, as does Freddie Hubbard on trumpet.
Birds and flight remain a theme for the rest of the album, which showcases the players’ versatility in spades, but even moreso Sebesky’s multifaceted arranging abilities on everything from folk to gospel to classical and his own compositions in pop and standards, hard bop, orchestral bop and jazz-funk fusion. In addition to the huge stable of jazz players, the arrangements draw on as many as 35 musicians in string, horn and woodwinds sections, plus a handful of vocalists. And Sebesky himself takes a couple of vocal turns and plays keyboards on every track.
Though the album showcases many great soloists, it is anchored by the nonpariel rhythm section, particularly Ron Carter on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums (except for three rock fusion pieces featuring Cobham). These two are jazz stars in their own right, and they add so much more than just rhythm to this album.
The opening tour-de-force is followed by a total change of pace: Joni Mitchell’s “Song To A Seagull,” featuring the great Paul Desmond on alto sax. This loving tribute to the title track of Mitchell’s first album came at a time when she was moving more into jazz composition and singing. Then “Free As A Bird,” a Sebesky composition, is driving, uptempo orchestral bop with solos from Freddie Hubbard on flugelhorn, Bob James on piano and Grover Washington Jr., on soprano during the piece’s climax, during which Carter displays truly impressive bass lines.
Jimmy Webb’s “Psalm 150″ is a nice piece when you consider the solos from Hubbard on trumpet, James on an organ that sounds more like a synthesizer, and Carter on bass. But it sounds dated to my ears, especially with Sebesky’s electric piano and the gospel-style major-fifth harmonies on the vocal parts from Jackie Cain and Roy Kral, all of which fairly shout “1970s!” Maybe I was just exposed to too much Jimmy and Carol Owens gospel during that decade, but these vocals especially seem of a piece with that overly sincere style of gospel rock. I did love Carter’s psychedelic piccolo bass workout, though.
All is redeemed from here on out, though. Milt Jackson plays a lengthy vibraphone solo of the vocal part of Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise,” which also makes good use of the orchestra — nice color from oboe and french horn! Sebesky sings his own ballad “Fly,” paired in a medley with his multi-section work “Circles,” which nicely shows off many of the soloists’ versatility. Hubert Laws plays a flighty, pointillist section that segues into a cool mid-tempo swing, Joe Farrell takes a long soprano sax solo, and James, Carter and DeJohnette team up for a long hard-bop section. Then the album goes out on a playful note with “Semi-Tough,” which sounds like the soundtrack theme to a blaxploitation flick, complete with effects-laden guitar by George Benson, a wailing alto solo from Washington and a wild clavinet solo from Sebesky.
This album was quite a project, and even a cursory listen reveals Sebesky’s generous spirit in preparing this work to let these great players show off. The era of the big band was over well before 1973, but an album like this brought it back to life, if only briefly, and makes you ponder what might have been.
(CTI, 1973; reissue Masterworks Jazz, 2010)
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