John Fordham 

Maria Schneider: The Thompson Fields review – heartening jazz suite that’s too good to miss

Maria Schneider’s album dedicated to the landscape of her home state of Minnesota swings and sighs in equal measure
  
  

Maria Schneider
Expansively swinging … Maria Schneider Orchestra Photograph: Handout

The majestic collection by American orchestral-jazz composer Maria Schneider is devoted to her beloved Minnesota countryside – nurtured over a decade, partly fan-funded and self-released in the summer with an absence of media leverage that made it easy to miss. The title track, named after a local farm significant to her childhood, balances cannily chosen instrumental voicings (from quietly Bill Frisell-like guitar beginnings over a humming accordion, to piano harmonies recalling Messiaen and Schneider’s mentor, Gil Evans), slow-burn build ups, sensitive improvising and richly layered brass and reeds. A wistful clarinet melody guides the fragile Walking By Flashlight; flute sweeps and accordion waltzes precede voluble trumpet/trombone improv on The Monarch and the Milkweed; and though much of this heartening music is reflective, a formidable rhythm section and Schneider’s faith in her longstanding lineup of fine improvisers kindle plenty of expansively swinging music, too.

 

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