An Auspicious Debut for Composer/Arranger Helen Sung and Her Big Band on "Oracles"

 

Helen Sung-Oracles-Sunnyside 

The pianist Helen Sung has released her debut as a composer/arranger for big band music with Oracles on the Sunnyside label and it’s certainly an auspicious one. 

Sung was born in Houston, Texas where after graduating from Houston’s High School of Performing and Visual Arts. She took her undergraduate and master’s degrees in classical piano from the University of Texas at Austin. Subsequently, she enrolled and completed a two-year graduate program at The Thelonious Monk Institute then located at Loyola University in New Orleans, where she was able to tour with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter as part of an International educational performance tour to India and Thailand. Later awards included becoming a semi-finalist in the 1999 Thelonious Monk piano competition and winning the Mary Lou Williams piano competition in 2007.

Besides being an in-demand artist, she has served as an associate professor at Berklee (2011-2014) and is presently on the faculty of Columbia and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She recently was awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 2021.

While I have had exposure to some of Sung’s previous work, this is my first chance to really see this artist as the triple threat she has become. Besides her excellent pianistic instincts, Oracles captures Hung’s mastery of both composition and arrangement for the big band format. On this album, she coordinates seventeen instruments, with Alan Ferber conducting the band for the recording. She creates a suite of music that is beautifully conceived, creatively arranged and played, and does honor to her oracles; the musical icons that mentored and encouraged her so inspirationally along the way.

The music includes twelve compositions, each with a special connection to the pianist’s path. The opening piece is titled “Convergence” and is a Sung composition that could be seen as the culmination of the work her mentors encouraged the pianist to pursue beyond her obvious instrumental prowess.  “Convergence” is more like an opening exclamation point, a wonderful piece that erupts with promise and excitement. A facile statement of her vision both as a composer, but also promisingly demonstrates her intuitive abilities as an arranger/orchestrator of multiple instruments.

“Convergence” opens with a brief but powerful drum intro by Adam Cruz. The brass and reed section layer the threads of the tapestry upon which the tight trumpet work of Alex Norris is featured. Sung’s section creates great force and tension. Her piano solo follows with energy and fluidity, as the rhythm section of Cruz and bassist Vincente Archer pulse. John Ellis offers an authoritative tenor solo. The sections work in both unison and as counterpoint to each other and the net experience is exciting, powerful and joyous.

The remainder of the set includes compositions that are penned by some of Sung’s mentors; trumpeter Clark Terry’s “Samba Da Gunz,” where Sung features trumpeters Nathaniel Williford, Mike Rodriguez, Alex Norris and Tatum Greenblatt, to show four different takes on Terry’s trumpet-centric music.

Saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s gorgeous “Diana” is beautifully played by Sung on an otherworldly sounding electric piano in duo with Ellis on a vaporous soprano saxophone, a real highlight.

Bassist Ron Carter’s “R.J.”  finds Sung on piano pulsing as bassist Archer lays down some fierce bottom lines and the brass and reeds wail in the background. 

“A Little Bird Watchin’ “is a Sung dedication to the saxophonist Jimmy Heath and features the wonderful deep-toned tenor saxophone of Nicole Glover. 

Pianist Horace Silver’s “Peace” finds Sung using Greenblatt’s lead trumpet along with Archer’s plucky bass to open the poignant melody. The brass and reed section create a marvelous weave of sounds as Torres expressive percussion adds another element to the aural colors.

Other oracles that Sung honors with compositions include “Positively C.T.” for Clark Terry, “Mr. Virtuosity” for Ron Carter, and “Wayne’s World” for Wayne Shorter. 

Sung also wrote a suite of songs under the name “Pianism” for the pianist Roland Hanna, who always encouraged the pianist to retain some of  her classical roots into her jazz compositions, which Hung includes in the opening and closing parts of this three song suite.

The suite includes: “Pianism I (for) Barry Harris”, a piece that features a classically influenced flute entre. Sung's piano transitions into a swinging pace with walking bass by Archer before an alto sax solo by Alejandro Aviles prevails with some hard bop roots and the piece ends with a soaring soprano solo,(could this be Ellis again or maybe Pietro?) at the coda.

“Pianism II (for) Kenny Barron” finds Mike Rodriguez on a flugelhorn solo that movingly captures some of Barron’s melodicism.

“Pianism III (for) Herbie Hancock”, is a modern piece where Sung trades fours with two trombonists Sara Jacovina and  later James Burton, altoist Dave Pietro and  John Ellis on soprano get their turns  and then Nathaniel Williford on trumpet is the last to parry with Sung as the band layers and soars behind the Reed and Brass sections and Torres and Cruz create a tumultuous explosion at the coda.

Oracles is a feast to the ears of anyone who loves creative big band jazz and should clearly mark Helen Sung’s debut as a big band composer/arranger a rousing success!  

Musicians : 

Helen Sung - piano/composer/arranger 

Tatum Greenblatt - lead trumpet, flugelhorn Mike Rodriguez - trumpet, flugelhorn
Alex Norris - trumpet, flugelhorn Nathaniel Williford - trumpet, flugelhorn
James Burton III - lead trombone Sara Jacovino - trombone Willie Applewhite - trombone
Gina Benalcázar López - bass trombone Dave Pietro - first alto sax, doubles

Alejandro Aviles - second alto sax, doubles John Ellis - first tenor sax, doubles
Nicole Glover - second tenor sax, doubles Andrew Gutauskas - baritone sax, bass clarinet)
Vicente Archer - bass Adam Cruz - drums Samuel Torres - percussion  Alan Ferber - conductor

 

Song for the Day: Michael Brecker-Tales from the Hudson-Impulse-1996-"Midnight Voyage"

Michael Brecker (photo credit unknown)

For the song of today, October 30, 2026, we go to one of my favorite songs that saxophonist Michael Brecker did on his fabulous Tales from the Hudson released in 1996 on UMG/Impulse, “Midnight Voyage.” 

There was a lot to choose from on this album with such a stellar group of musicians who collaborated on this release. Brecker had his cohort pianist Joey Calderazzo but also featured the great McCoy Tyner on piano on two cuts. The inimitable bassist Dave Holland and the revolutionary drummer Jack DeJohnette made up the formidable rhythm section. The guitarist Pat Metheny played guitar and guitar synthesizer, and the percussionist Don Alias was heard on the of the released cuts. Joey Calderazzo’s swinging yet haunting “Midnight Voyage” captured Brecker and the groups at their best. Michael was clearly at the top of his game.  The song opened with a strong walking bass line by Holland accompanied by DeJohnette’s subtle trap work. Beautiful accompaniment by Calderazzo, and a piercing, powerfully exploratory solo by Brecker is pure gold. Metheny adds his own airy and inventive guitar imprint to this one that just takes the whole production to another level.   

 

Song of the Day October 24, 2026: from Oliver Nelson's " Blues and the Abstract Truth"-Impulse-1961 "Stolen Moments"

Oliver Nelson (photo credit unknown)

Here is one of my favorite jazz songs for the day on this October 24, 2026. A great composition with a fantastic arrangement and some fabulous solos by Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy and the master Oliver Nelson and his orchestra. From the superb album is Oliver Nelson's Blues and the Abstract Truth released by Impulse in 1961, the endearing composition is "Stolen Moments." What more could you ask for?

Song for the Day October 25, 2026 : Pharoah Sanders-Tauhid-Impulse-1967 "Aum/Venus & Capricorn Rising"

Pharoah Sanders (photo credit unknown)

Back in the late sixties and early seventies, I was exploring the spiritualism that seemed to be erupting from the world of jazz from such artists as John and Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry, Albert Ayler, Leon Thomas, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra and of course Pharoah Sanders. For me it was Pharoah's Tauhid that opened whatever third eye I was to find in myself. The particularly moving song on this album was "Aum/Venus & Capricorn Rising". From the tumultuous openings, the frenetic energy, the dissonance, to the absolute stunningly expressive and emotionally charged passages that he and his band generated just took me to another place. I would replay parts like the this one that starts at about the 4:30 minute mark and feel like their playing opened a portal to the unknown, the magical, the spiritual! I was forever smitten. Maybe this song for the day will do something like that to you to if you let it.

Song of the Day October 26, 2026-"John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman"-Impulse -1963' "Lush Life"

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (photo credit unknown)

On this song for the day, Oct 27, 2026, we find a beautiful and harmonically challenging composition, "Lush Life" from the 1963 Impulse album John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. Remarkably written by Billy Strayhorn when he was likely under the age of twenty, this tour de force deals with the very adult concept of the weariness of a robust night life after a failed romance. As jazz chronicler Ted Gioia wrote, "Lush Life" " ...ranks among the most sophisticated jazz ballads." The difficulty of being able to honestly deliver the feelings of the poignant lyrics within such a beautiful but boldly structured piece of music has always been a challenge. Others have tried, but Johnny Hartman's wonderfully rich and expressive baritone along with John Coltrane's burnish tenor accompaniment, is perhaps the unsurpassed version of what many consider Strayhorn's masterpiece.

Song of the day: October 27,2026 "Tony Bennett Bill Evans"- "Waltz for Debby" - Fantasy-1975

Today's song for the day was considered one of the pianist Bill Evans' most endearing compositions "Waltz for Debby." Originally wordless and recorded on his Riverside 1956 release "New Jazz Conceptions," the song was purportedly written for his then three year old niece.
The song was given Swedish lyrics by poet Beppe Wolgers for vocalist Monica Zetturland, who sung it under its Swedish title "Monica Vals" with Evans on an album titled "Waltz for Debby: Monica Zetturland Bill Evans" and released in 1963.

Canadian journalist and lyricist Gene Lees wrote English lyrics for the song for vocalist Tony Bennett for his popular 1964 album "Who Can I Turn To." Evans and Bennett would eventually collaborate on their seminal duo album "The Tony Bennett Bill Evans Album" from 1975, and it is on this first collaboration that the two would play this memorable waltz with such conviction and feeling. Although Evans played this song many times as part of his repertoire throughout his career, this recording marks the only time the pianist would record the song with lyrics ever again. Maybe these two created something that was too good to be improved.

Song of the Day: Joe Farrell Quartet-CTI-1970: "Follow Your Heart"

 

Joe Farrell (Photo credit Don Schilten)

Today’s song of the day is from an album from 1970 titled Joe Farrell Quartet. Joseph Carl Firrantello was a multi-reedist and flute player born in Chicago Heights, Illinois in 1937. After graduating from the University of Illinois, he relocated to start his career as a professional musician in 1937, changing his name to the more generic Joe Farrell. In the sixties, Farrell’s skill and versatility found him recording with a range of musicians from Maynard Ferguson to Charles Mingus, from Jakai Byard to Elvin Jones. After John Coltrane’s passing in 1967, Farrell joined drummer Elvin Jones’ trio with bassist Jimmy Garrison and recorded Putttin’ in Together on Blue Note in 1968, one of three albums recorded with the trio through 1969.

Joe Farrell, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones (photo credit unknown)

In the early seventies Farrell maintained connection with Jones, who he recorded with through the mid-seventies, but became a founder, with Chick Corea, of the original Return to Forever with bassist Stanley Clarke, vocalist Flora Purim and percussionist Airto Moreira. His proficiency at both flute and soprano saxophone fit perfectly with Corea’s airy approach to Latin-inspired music.

Farrell joined Creed Taylor’s CTI label in 1970, where he recorded his debut as a leader on Joe Farrell Quartet, with Chick Corea on piano, Dave Holland on bass, Jack De Johnette on drums and John McLaughlin as a guest guitarist. McLaughlin’s composition “Follow Your Heart” was originally heard as “Arjin’s Bag” on the guitarists fantastic Extrapolation recorded five months earlier in 1969.

Farrell’s talent as a studio musician was in demand. His prolific work can be heard on popular albums by Aretha Franklin, The Band, Darryl Hall and John Oats, The Average White Band, Patti Austin, Mose Allison, Carly Simon and Santana.

This album was my initiation to Farrell’s artistry.  I got the opportunity to see this astoundingly talented artist in person, in a trio setting, at an intimate now defunct club in NJ in the early seventies. He was just mesmerizing. His performance and his many recordings have been the source of great joy and satisfaction for me for decades and this song never fails to make a lasting impression.

Unfortunately, Joe Farrell’s talent was short lived. He passed away from MDS in California at the age of forty-eight in 1986.  His music remains a testament to this talented musician’s legacy.

Lineage- Mike DiRubbo's "Way Out Northwest"

 

Mike DiRubbo-Way Out Northwest- Cellar Music

The alto saxophonist Mike DiRubbo has been in the New York metro area honing his skill and obtaining important real-life experience for years. He is a product of the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT and was mentored by the great altoist Jackie McLean among others. McLean’s influence on the student’s sound is understandable, but DiRubbo’s alto sound is darker, less sharp-toned, more low register-based and just as stealthily honed as a slashing razor blade as his mentor's.  His alto saxophone has been heard on recordings by trombonist Steve Davis, pianists Larry Willis and Harold Mabern, and trumpeter Jim Rotondi, not to mention several albums as a leader.

His latest release, Way Out Northwest was released in July by Cory Weeds’ Cellar Label. The altoist first met producer Weeds after the two came in contact at a concert in New York back in 2006. The album Mike DiRubbo Quartet featuring Harold Mabern -New York Accent -Live at the Kitano was recorded and released shortly after. Importantly, Weeds and DiRubbo stayed in touch.  “Timing is Everything” -coincidently the title of one of DiRubbo’s compositions on the album- and so when Mike contacted Cory, the timing was indeed everything!

DiRubbo came to record with eight compositions. Two compositions were by mentors –“Song for My Queen” by South African pianist and one-time Hartt educator Hotep Idris Galeta, and trombonist Steve Davis’s “A Star to Chick” -plus six DiRubbo originals.

Mike suggested a change of venue from his NYC area and decided to record this album in Vancouver, British Columbia with an all-Canadian rhythm section.  The built-in cohesion and intuitive skills that pianist Tilden Webb, bassist Jodi Poznick and drummer Jesse Cahill brought to the recording as a seasoned trio was the magic sauce that made this session such a treat for both DiRubbo and producer Weeds.

The title and opening cut “Way Out Northwest” establish the hard bop drive that will be the prominent feature of this album. DiRubbo’s alto is strong, vibrant and hovers in the lower register. The theme is set and the rhythm section plays with a familiarity and comfort level that provides a floating carpet upon which DiRubbo’s saxophone sails. Tilden ‘s piano accompaniment is light and fluid. Poznick’s punctuating bass and Cahill’s roiling drum work offer the saxophonist a sympathetic one-two rhythmic punch that allows the altoist’s to showcase his probing style.

Mike DiRubbo (photo credit unknown)

The album follows with  “Striking Distance, “a modal piece that opens with a repeated line that sets the tension. DiRubbo’s alto is liquid and he adds short bursts of emotionally charged lines that raise the temperature. Cahill is given a short but potent feature that shows real kineticism.

“Song for My Queen” is a composition from one of DIRubbo’s Hartt School instructors, South African pianist Hotep Idris Galeta, who often played with Jackie McClean. The music was first recorded on the pianist’s album The Prophet from 1972 and integrates South African musical inspirations with modern jazz. There is a sweeping sense of swing mixed with reverence and Mike’s alto plays the melody with a clarion-like approach.  

“Jimbo” is a DiRubbo dedication to the trumpet player Jim Rotondi, who passed in 2024 ,and was one of the veteran players that saw the promise in the altoist. Rotondi joined DiRubbo on the front line of the altoist’s first album Keep Steppin’ from 2001. This easy, undulating melody is one of the most fetching on the album. Pozniak’s bass offers a plucky melodic solo of note.  DiRubbo’s alto is warmer, free-flowing, more tonally closer to the great Phil Woods on this one. You can feel the emotional connection that the altoist had to the lyrical trumpet player, and it makes for some enjoyable listening.

The album continues with the fine, moody “Late August.” DiRubbo’s lower register inclinations are perfectly suited for this one. He wails with emotion and delivers bursts of harmonically rich lines that never seem to be desperate. Tilden’s piano has a searching solo that fits the mood. This one leaves a lasting impression that DiRubbo is an altoist that something to say.

Tilden Webb, Jesse Cahill & Jodi Proznick (photo credit unknown)

The Steve Davis composition “A Star for Chick” could easily be a homage to the late pianist Chick Corea. Latin-inspired, the music has a driving bass line by Poznick and some propulsive drum work by Cahill. Tilden’s piano solo work is powerful. DiRubbo’s horn shears the air with some of his most sharply driven lines. His alto pierces the atmosphere with a take no prisoner’s appeal and Cahill’s drum work at the coda adds his own percussive notation.

“Timing is Everything” is a sauntering melody that could be DiRubbo’s comment on how this gig came about. There is a feel that DiRubbo is leisurely walking down a street when he eventually gets stopped and things change. The nonchalantly played alto has an easy listening swing, but this is no elevator music. There is an inherent dark tone to DiRubbo’s horn. Maybe things sometimes don’t go the way we had hoped, but his alto is serious and yet it never seems to forget to hold the promise of hope. Things change.

The final composition is DiRubbo’s homage to the pianist Harold Mabern titled “One for Mabes.” DiRubbo recalls that his first trip to Vancouver, BC was with Mabern. “I’m blessed to have spent so much time around him.” Opening with a repeating melodic line, “One for Mabs” is an energetic piece that seems to allow the band to percolate on a high level. DiRubbo plays with enhanced passion and piercing purpose. Cahill’s polyrhythmic drum feature cooks. DiRubbo’s alto is forceful and played with a reverence that is palpable and moving at the coda. 

If there is one theme throughout this album it is the concept of lineage. The world of jazz is often made up of brief encounters and lasting impressions between teachers, places, and between fellow musicians on the stage. DiRubbo found his relationships with McClean, Davis, Willis, Mabern, Rotondi and Galeta all to be memorable and important enough in his development to acknowledge them on this wonderful album Way Out Northwest.