[contextly_auto_sidebar id=”YfM8aiJzlVZ9I1pRFK7n7T0nDMC14K0N”] Bill Kirchner, Lifeline (Jazzheads) In 2008, I initiated an occasional series called Medium But Well Done. It highlights the accomplishments of groups bigger than combos but smaller than big bands. Introducing it, I wrote, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Six to eleven pieces allow arrangers freedom that the conventions and sheer size of sixteen-piece bands tend to limit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-recommendations","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5590\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Kirchner](\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Kirchner-Lifeline.jpg\")
<\/a>In 2008, I initiated an occasional series called Medium But Well Done<\/a>. It highlights the accomplishments of groups bigger than combos but smaller than big bands. Introducing it, I wrote, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Six to eleven pieces allow arrangers freedom that the conventions and sheer size of sixteen-piece bands tend to limit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d There is no better recent illustration of that proposition than this release by Bill Kirchner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Nonet. His arrangements of pieces by composers including Wayne Shorter, Cole Porter, Denny Zeitlin and Kirchner himself show that a skilled writer using what some might consider a limited palette can achieve excitement, expansiveness and an impressive range of tonal colors. His adventurous three-part \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lifeline Suite\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is an important contribution to the literature of mid-sized bands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"