Nate Wooley Sextet - (Sit in) The Throne of Friendship (2013)

Nate Wooley isn’t only a great trumpeter, one of the very best around. He’s also a musician of projects, a conceptualist, a composer, a bandleader. And the Nate Wooley Sextet is his brass band of sorts. “Of sorts” because, as everything else in his music, its instrumental setup isn’t the ordinary: an association of trumpet, bass clarinet doubling with baritone saxophone (Josh Sinton) and tuba (Dan Peck) results in something very far from all the established patterns for this kind of configuration. You can’t have a fanfare with this formula. Or can you? Well, there’s also a vibraphone (Matt Moran) to complicate things, and a “normal” rhythm section (bassist Eivind Opsvik and drummer Harris Eisenstadt) keeps the group still. “(Sit in) The Throne of Friendship” is one more, but particularly notable, example that Wooley walks his own way, the most uneasy for him and for us, but also the most rewarding. This is non-conformist music structured and played with an exquisite sensibility and intelligence. You’ll find difficult to stop listening to this again and again…

Tracklist:

01 - Old Man on the Farm
02 - Make Your Friend Feel Loved
03 - The Berries
04 - Plow
05 - Executive Suites
06 - My Story, My Story
07 - Sweet and Sad Consistency
08 - A Million Billion BTUs

Personnel:

Nate Wooley - trumpet;
Josh Sinton - bass clarinet, baritone saxophone;
Matt Moran - vibraphone;
Eivind Opsvik - double bass;
Dan Peck - tuba;
Harris Eisenstadt - drums.