Mace Francis Orchestra

[Introducing the Mace Francis Orchestra] is the most interesting of the three CDs reviewed in this space. …Australian Mace Francis takes chances with his orchestra. Apparently inspired by Gil Evans and Bob Brookmeyer, as were others of this generation’s big band arrangers like Maria Schneider, Francis’ compositional elements include the unrushed development of a motive, prismatically arrayed colors, a drummer’s forceful undercurrent, long layers of tones from the horns as they impressionistically paint a scene, the emphasis upon dynamics to infuse a piece with excitement, and the cohesion of a band’s sound that seems larger than the number of instruments involved.

The number of instrumentalists playing Francis’ compositions is twelve, and one can infer from the liner notes that the musicians are of a relatively young age. Oddly enough, the musicians’ ability to create a stirring group sound throughout the recording is greater than the work of the soloists, whose improvisations indicate some directional uncertainty and reliance on devices such as smeared repetitions of notes.

Probably the overlooked soloist of the Mace Francis Orchestra is drummer Greg Brenton because he is always charging the band with energetically contrasting rhythms. The horns’ extended tones oppose and complement his percussive drive throughout.

The first track, “Lemon Water,” sets up dynamic tension as the horn lines build ominously over single chord while Brenton, as ever, pushes the band with roiling turbulence. Seamlessly, Francis’ band moves into more subdued shadings shaped, as if in a canon, over a repeated descending phrase akin to the first four notes of “We Three Kings.” Eventually, the quiet rippling accelerates into a waterfall of irresistible sweep and force.

“Melodian Melody” remains straightforward and understated in chorale form as the horns stay within the tenor range with tight voicings, the trumpets in mid register as they blend with trombones and tenor saxophones for gradual harmonic progression.

At the end of the recording, Francis proves that his band can swing smartly on “The Preacher Is Broken”…but only after an introduction of kaleidoscopically unpredictable changes dramatically reharmonizing the changes of Horace Silver’s “The Preacher.”

Though Ed Partyka unnecessarily politicizes the liner notes by equating the “retro graveyard” of American big bands with increases in American military spending, thereby moving “the creative centre” to Europe, Mace Francis (composing, arranging and conducting in a continent “in the process of creating its own cultural voice,” Partyka says) deserves recognition as a big band leader with his own vision and his own sound.

Bill Donaldson
Cadence Magazine May 2007
www.cadencebuilding.com
- Cadence Magazine May 2007

Composer/arranger Mace Francis formed his orchestra three years ago as an outlet for creative music in Western Australia, and this album, in which the twelve-piece ensemble is “introduced,” is actually its second. The first, Chinese Whispers, was recorded four months earlier (in August, 2005) as a part of the Jazz Concert Window Series at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University, Perth.
All of the tunes on Introducing were written by Francis, and they lay bare an explicit fondness for the music of Bob Brookmeyer, Maria Schneider, Gil Evans, Jim McNeely and perhaps Thad Jones, while at the same time giving voice to Francis’ own forward-looking concepts. Even as they are thoroughly contemporary, his themes are melodically pleasing and rhythmically strong, with a good deal of their underlying power emanating from the orchestra’s hard-working drummer, Greg Brenton.
Francis is at his creative best on “The Preacher Is Broken,” cleverly turning Horace Silver’s jazz classic inside out by revising harmony and tempo as the orchestra sings his praises, Brenton inflames the congregation, and trumpeter Ricki Malet and tenor Alistair McEvoy deliver their own provocative sermons. Flexible trombonist Catherine Noblet is featured on the tasteful and refreshing “Lemon Water,” smooth trumpeter Callum G’Froerer on the placid “Melodian Melody,“ supple guitarist Johanne Druitt on the chorale-like “Lido Lowdown” and pensive “Why A?” G’Froerer and Noblet share solo honors on the flag-waving “Say That Again,” the only number repeated from the orchestra’s earlier album.
Francis has definite goals in mind, and has assembled a first-class ensemble to help him reach them. Based on this introduction, one can’t disprove the assumption that you’ll be as pleased to meet the Mace Francis Orchestra as I was.
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Jack Bowers - allaboutjazz.com