Shifty Paradigms

This is big-band jazz, L.A.-style. Orchestrator, arranger and composer Dave Slonaker has now held this Grammy-nominated aggregate together for over 15 years. And it shows. Shifty Paradigms is his third for the label and a fun listen.

"Dash Can" and "Bye Bye Blues" kick things off with forward-charging charts and solos and include standard big band section work, some swing and not a little backbeat. "Blue Windows" cools things off with a relaxed pace that almost stops midway until bassist Edwin Livingston gradually emerges on his own en route to more gentle charts and soprano. A quiet pause, its bluesy feel almost seems to waltz.

The title piece perks things up a bit, alluding to shifts that Slonaker apparently is making with his writing and aesthetic. It's a more subdued but tense kind of writing, the trombone solo reserved yet active as the Moorish medium-tempo swing hovers like a warm blanket. A soprano solo is coaxed along by what is revealed as a signature sound: brassy intonation and intersectional riffing. A bit of Latin percussion adds some spice. 3 1/2 STARS