Florian Ross lifts the curtain on his
Brass Project session Lilacs & Laughter with an apt opening gambit. "Opening Chorale" and "Opening Fanfare" signal the composer's love of the brass band tradition as well as his devotion to formal compositional structure. The title of almost every composition refers in some way to the materials from which
Ross fashioned the piece. Even the title tune's name is an oblique reference to its model, the popular standard "Polka Dots and Moonbeams." A melancholy lyricism pervades this arrangement and the rest of the session. Throughout,
Ross paints with dark, muted tones evocative as much of a classic European brass band as a jazz big band. Even at their most robust, the pieces remain stately. The soloists, particularly trumpeter Claus Stötter and trombonist
Nils Wogram, decorate the charts with virtuosic effusions. The most valuable player, though, is drummer
John Hollenbeck, who colors the ensemble much as he would a small ensemble. His finely nuanced work italicizes
Ross' lines. The closer, "Aldersong (Encore)," marks a major shift in tone. The piece's swinging ebullience emerges like the sun after the mist has cleared. The brighter tone would have provided welcomed leavening earlier and more often in this set. ~ David Dupont