LESTER BOWIE'S BRASS FANTASY
When the Spirit Returns

Dreyfuss

Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy inhabits the space somewhere between a big band, a New Orleans parade band, and a drum and bugle corps. The instrumentation consists of four trumpets, four trombones, tuba, French horn, and percussion. The repertoire consists of music that the trumpeter’s 15 year-old daughter recommended he record in 1997. Though many might find the material to be beneath an esteemed group of musicians such as Bowie and his band, the fact is that these often mundane tunes are lifted into the realm of celebration and sheer joy by the arrangements and performances here.

This, Bowie’s final recording, has its precedents in the previous work of the Brass Fantasy, including The Odyssey of Funk and Popular Music and Avant Pop. On these recordings Bowie seeks, for one thing, to bridge the gap between popular music and jazz without insulting either. Of course, jazz purists don’t necessarily buy the argument that interpreting popular music and incorporating it into the jazz lexicon is what jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and others have always done. Sure, they say, that’s true, but the stuff Lester is covering here is mostly dreck. Maybe that’s true, but out of that dreck Bowie and the Brass Fantasy mine pure gold. For example, listen to the opening cut, “Player Hater” featuring vocals by Dean Bowman. Bowman, (along with the marvelous arrangement and Bowie’s gorgeous trumpet work) manages to create a beautiful, desperate plea from the raw material of this Notorious B.I.G. paean:

You know, we need this money
And you, yes baby, you, should just roll with me
Let's go off, together
On this robbin’ spree, we'll make money

It also becomes a tribute to the many entertainers who have fallen at the hands of handgun violence, with Bowman shouting out in memoriam to Marvin Gaye, Tupac, John Lennon, and others.

Another standout track is the fairly straightforward arrangement of the T.L.C. hit “Waterfall,” which sounds much of the time like an extremely hip marching band arrangement. Bob Stewart handles the bass parts on tuba, and Vincent Chancey takes an outrageous French horn solo. Meanwhile, screaming trumpets contribute some sharp embellishment to the melody, as though the Maynard Ferguson band were in the house. The Whitney Houston/Ce Ce Winans hit “Count on Me” has a decidedly traditional big band feel, with arranger Earl McIntyre providing warm clusters of brass chords that emphasize the trombones and French horn. Through it all, Bowie’s trumpet is the shining star, sometimes sounding like Miles, sometimes like Dizzy or Louis, but always with that special quality that makes it the one and only Lester Bowie.

The quality of the arrangements and the playing on this CD are such that even if you don’t know many of the songs, you will find yourself singing them in your head after only a few listens. There isn’t a tremendous amount of rhythmic or harmonic experimentation on this album; instead Bowie and the Brass Fantasy focus on the melodic content of each number, squeezing every last ounce of musicality out of their raw material. A warhorse like “Unchained Melody” is given a new lease on life by the group, and the final cut, Bowie’s own “When the Spirit Returns” offers not only a beautiful musical experience, but also a spiritual release much like that of the New Orleans jazz funeral. It’s amazing how Bowie uses the all brass and percussion band and the traditions it embodies to reinterpret the most modern of popular music, bringing everything full circle.

When The Spirit Returns is a CD that has scarcely left my player since I got it, and it promises to be some time before it makes it onto the shelf. Thanks, Lester, for this final glorious gift. Godspeed.