Old-fashioned locomotive
Don Menza, Menza Lines (Jazzed Media JM1009) — Menza Lines was recorded live in L.A. following a conference in honour of Menza’s former employer Maynard Ferguson, and features a number of other Ferguson alumni. The arrangements are as streamlined and powerful as the old-fashioned locomotive on the disc’s cover. Menza lets the soloists set the mood and pace of a piece, only gradually letting the full band slip in behind them and building patiently to a final shout chorus. His writing on ballads is exemplary, and often surprisingly sparse — the opening of “Prelude to a Kiss,” for instance, offers just a silken thread of countermelody beneath trumpeter Bobby Shew. Something eventful happens on every track — Mike Abene’s Monkish, poking-and-jabbing piano on “Gravy” and “Broad Bottom”; Lanny Morgan’s weathered, Bird-inflected alto solo on “Hark’ the Harold”; the demonic virtuosity of the trombone section on “T’n'T”; and above all, Menza’s deeply-felt tenor solo on the rarely-heard ballad “Nina Never Knew.” Menza has had few opportunities to record as a leader (his last big-band album was Burnin’, from 1981), which makes this excellent disc all the more welcome. (Coda)