Holman: Adventures in Big-Band Sound

Why did the big bands fade into obscurity 40 years ago?

Maybe one of the reasons was because Bill Holman’s career was just beginning. Because it’s hard to believe that--given the appropriate opportunity--his utterly unique way of arranging and composing might not have helped sustain interest in large jazz ensembles.

Holman’s skills were on full display at the newly renovated Moonlight (formerly the Moonlight Tango) in Sherman Oaks on Tuesday night. Working with a band filled with some of the Southland’s most solidly dependable musicians, Holman cruised through a set of provocative charts--many drawn from his new JVC album, “Brilliant Corners,” a tribute to the works of Thelonious Monk.

Like Gil Evans, an arranger who was comparable in terms of imagination if not in terms of method, Holman brilliantly blends the work of individual players with the ensemble. Traditional block-harmonized melodies are rare, and he often does not even reveal a piece’s theme until the close of an arrangement.

On Monk’s “Straight, No Chaser,” for example, some individual blowing, a set of counter-themes, solos and contrapuntal section interaction all preceded the eventual appearance of the familiar blues theme. “ ‘Round Midnight” emerged as a bass clarinet solo (by Bob Efford) in the midst of eerie, suspended long tones from the entire ensemble.

Holman’s trademark technique of moving his melodies across the band’s horn sections in propulsive, emotionally cumulative style was an essential element in most of the charts. But equally important--and especially apparent in the Monk material--was his continually adventurous quest to push open the large ensemble envelope. His arrangement of “Thelonious” employed segments in which the trombones slid through and around their pitches, while the woodwinds chattered in the background--the entire simmering caldron eventually exploding into a driving ensemble sound.

It was gripping stuff, all of it, enhanced by first-rate soloing from, among others, saxophonists Lanny Morgan, Bill Perkins and Pete Christlieb, trumpeter Ron Stout, trombonist Bob Enevoldsen, pianist Rich Eames and bassist Dave Carpenter. And the room, with its repositioned corner stage, its clear sight lines and superb acoustics, was the ideal place to hear it.

The full-house audience watched and listened intently, applauding enthusiastically after each solo and composition, clearly enjoying the music and setting. With more bookings such as the Bill Holman band, the Moonlight--already one of the most attractive clubs in town--can become an important Los Angeles jazz destination.