Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam). Can generations nurtured on rock and roll learn to love music by a band configured like one out of the swing era? The answer delivered in this work of imagination, daring and resourcefulness is yes. Argue’s textures, harmonies and uses of space and time place him alongside Maria Schneider, Ed Partyka and John Hollenbeck among intriguing young composer-leaders of the new century. His music incorporates funk, spunk and the brashness of punk into crafty uses of inheritances from Gil Evans, Bill Holman and Bob Brookmeyer. His band of young New Yorkers plays beautifully.
Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...
I bought the album as soon as it was available because I had heard the band in concert at the NPR/Jazz & Blues site. NPR’s Jazz archives, with concerts all about one hours, with Jazz Profiles, is an absolute treasure for students of the art and craft and history of Jazz.