(Contemporary Jazz) [WEB] Stu Hunter - The Migration - 2016, FLAC (tracks), lossless

Sydney pianist and composer Stu Hunter produced a widely acclaimed, comprehensive work for quartet in 2007, The Muse, followed by an equally expansive and highly regarded suite for sextet, The Gathering, showcased to wide acclaim at the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues in 2010. Now comes a worthy successor to those earlier pieces and in some ways a continuation of them: a 74-minute musical odyssey for octet in nine parts entitled The Migration, which will be launched as part of the Sydney Festival next Saturday.
As with the earlier compositions, this work achieves an almost symphonic form in its structure, using illustrative, sometimes orchestral-style formats, mood variations and a thematic/melodic continuity, all within a highly individualised jazz context. The opener, Dawn Chorus, begins with a soft clock-like beat overlaid with a pacifying ensemble theme that sounds vaguely classical, even after Cameron Undy’s electric bass riff and Simon Barker’s drums pick up the rhythm. Led by Phil Slater’s trumpet, the ensemble’s melody wanders against the insistent fast-rhythm drums and bass, giving way to the deep muttering of Julien Wilson’s bass clarinet conclusion. A variation of the opener’s infectious rhythm continues in track two, Eagle Fish, with a strong piano pattern leading the ensemble as Matt Keegan’s baritone sax breaks into a raucous, rollicking solo, followed by the piano’s building bounce and excited stabbing chords from the group’s voicings, concluding with a brilliant solo electric bass passage.
Three of these nine movements feature a solo vocalist: two by Tina Harrod and one from Katie Noonan. In each of these arrangements the voice is treated as a solo instrument and the poetically abstract lyrics — also by Hunter — are supplied in the cover notes. Twelve Stages of Freedom features an ethereal Noonan with her astonishing range, adding a high-treble duet with the clarinet of Wilson, who also provides a solo.
One of Harrod’s two contributions, MDU Moonshine, has a New Orleans soul element that fits well with her vocal style and features a blast-off trombone solo from James Greening, another on alto clarinet by Keegan, plus Carl Dewhurst’s wailing guitar, while Hunter’s piano punches along a near-boogie ostinato underneath throughout.
The closer, Land of Gypsies, clearly influenced by the broad genre of European gypsy music, makes good use of Greening’s tuba, establishing a Romany groove along with Hunter’s travelling piano, while Dewhurst’s lift-off guitar solo reaches into Pat Metheny territory against speeding piano and classical high-note flourishes from clarinet and tenor sax.
Hunter deserves high praise for this third edition of his extensive compositions and for his vigorous piano work on the recording, as do the seven other top level musicians and two outstanding vocalists who interpret this monumental work.
4,5/5 stars
(John McBeath)