Celebrated Pianist/Bandleader Steven Feifke Delivers Highly Anticipated Big Band Debut Via ‘Kinetic’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

We couldn’t fit all the roles that the multi-talented Steven Feifke handles into the headline. In addition, he is an orchestrator, educator, and sideman who has appeared on 30 albums before turning 30 years old. When Feifke is not being sought out as a sideman, he is often requested as an arranger as we’ve seen recently on vocalist Veronica Swift’s release, This Bitter Earth (covered here just a couple of weeks ago).  Yet, Kinetic, Feifke’s big band debut is a major, highly anticipated event. It’s been a six-year wait since Feifke’s septet offering, 2015’s Peace in Time.

As this writer has often commented, we are in an era, a renaissance if you want to call it that, of formidable large ensemble jazz that now welcomes another to its elite tier. Combine Feifke’s many skills with this stellar group of musicians and you have a can’t miss project. Joining are drummer Ulysses Owens Jr., vocalist Veronica Swift, tenor saxophonist Lucas Pino, and alto saxophonist Alexa Tarantino among many others (full list below). Besides Swift’s, you will see reviews of forthcoming albums from Owens Jr. and Tarantino in the weeks ahead.

The music on Kinetic was refined during the big band’s popular monthly residency at The Django in New York City that ran for nearly two years before COVID brought all live performances to halt. These regular live performances afforded the band to develop chemistry and solid rapport, lending a rare intimate air to this large ensemble recording. 

We begin with the animated swing of the album’s title track. Feifke’s Coltrane – Tyner-inspired melodic refrains glide atop an unshakeable swing before the band descends on the tune’s rich melody.  The track demonstrates the pianist’s immense improvisational acuity with solo features from the composer as well as trumpeter Gabriel King Medd and drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. It’s the album’s first single and has an accompanying video The album continues with another highlight, the intriguing Unveiling Of A Mirror. The two contrasting parts of the tune (a softer and more mysterious textured beginning, and a hard-hitting swing section) speaks to the complexities of reflections.  The piece features solos by trumpeter Benny Benack III, saxophonist Sam Dillon, and drummer Joe Peri.  The composer won second place, for “Unveiling of a Mirror,” in the 2016 BMI Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Competition (judged by Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Heath and Alan Ferber).

The Sphinxis a great example of sheer big band power that showcases the unit’s virtuosity and versatility across shifting time signatures and dynamics as well as modal explorations. Tenor soloist Lucas Pino acts as the Gonsalves to Feifke’s Ellington.  Feifke gives us a pause of sorts as his piano intro leads to a sultry turn from vocalist Swift on “Until The Real Thing Comes Along.”  Saxophonist Andrew Gould soars above the ensemble in the instrumental break. Considering the song’s rich history, from Andy Kirk to Jackie Wilson, Feifke’s arrangement is one of restraint, romanticism, even reverence.  

The second half begins with the Quincy Jones-styled bossa nova of “Word Travels Fast” with solos from the leader, Medd, Pino, and drummer Jimmy MacBride. “Wollongong” brings all the fury this ensemble can muster with Gould stepping forward again, followed by another of the four drummers in the project, Bryan Carter before the leader takes the final bow. We then step into supposedly familiar territory with Horace Silver’s “Nica’s Dream,” but it’s on these familiar pieces where the listener gains the most appreciation for Feifke’s adventurous arrangements. Listen also to his piano solo which honors without mimicking Silver. The other soloist is the ever-energetic trumpeter Benny Benack III.

Swift returns for the show tune “On the Street Where You Live” bringing her signature blend of taste and power, augmented by solos from trombonist Robert Edwards and baritonist Andrew Gutaukas, filling the bottom to add even more impact to Swift’s soaring alto. The big band gets funky with “Midnight Beat” with bassist Dan Chmielinski following Alexa Tarantino’s alto flight. The bassist has a bit of conversation with his rhythm mates, Feifke and guitarist Alex Wintz before Tarantino delivers two more animated elongated statements. Feifke’s band is so energetic and engaged throughout that it sounds like a live recording. Even the final piece “Closure” is that kind of encore that calms one down, a romantic piece that Sam Dillon navigates beautifully in his tenor solo.

This is the very pinnacle of orchestral jazz, ebullient arrangements of gorgeous Feifke-penned originals and jazz standards, with two vocal turns, numerous soloists with the potency and array of harmonics that only the best large ensembles deliver.

Related Content

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter