What Did You Dream?

To distort and old song title: "How Can I Miss The Big Bands When They Won't Go Away?" Both of these large group releases have their roots in the college education systems of Kansas and Florida respectively. 'What Did You Dream?' is the product of Dan Gailey's mind; although he isn't heard playing on the disc, all six of the selections spring from his pen and he was physically in the studio in a "hands-on" capacity. As a Professor of Jazz Studies at Kansas University, Gailey has racked up a large amount of accolades in the Jazz education community, especially for his big band writing. The difference between the two albums lies in the fact that Gailey had precious experience with many of the musicians and personally hand-picked many of the players to return for this date. Another major difference is the employment of the guitar on several of the cuts, and thankfully six-stringer Kovalcheck keeps any rockish tendencies under wraps, letting one know they are listening to a true Jazz guitarist. Dr. Chuck Berg gives us a tune by tune description in his liner annotation picking out the title track as his favorite. But these ears were most delighted by the ballad "Early Light," which features Aliquo on tenor sax that at times steps outside with advance harmonics and a cutting edge; and the Blues-burner "In A Big Way" that takes us back to the days of the territory bands that operated out of the KC area. things wind up with a touching dedication to the late, great Michael Brecker--whom any still miss. Nice solo work from all hands but this is more of an ensemble oriented orchestra than most of the ones heard today.