Remy Le Boeuf

Heartland Radio

Soundspore

Heartland Radio is not the kind of title one expects from a jazz orchestra. Yet, four-time Grammy-nominated composer and saxophonist Remy Le Boeuf wanted a soundtrack for his move from New York City to Colorado. Thus, he peppers these large ensemble offerings with pop, indie rock, soul, and electronic music.  His Assembly of Shadows ensemble has typically woven classical and jazz ideas and those pillars certainly remain, but LeBoeuf has a wide-ranging palette. He gigs with the pop-rock band HAIM and collaborates with producer Prefuse 73, among other pursuits. The purpose of this journey was Le Boeuf’s appointment as the Director of Jazz & Commercial Music Studies at the University of Denver. He and his partner listened to the radio with the windows down for the entire trip. As one can imagine, they didn’t pull in many jazz stations along the way. As such, the album draws on the sounds they heard, a soundtrack for fun and singalongs. Assembly of Shadows is an 18-piece big band with Le Boeuf on alto sax, flute, and alto flute with Gregory Robbins conducting. Vocalists Julia Easterlin and Danielle Wertz appear on one track each.

Kicking off with the title track, which has Remy’s twin brother Pascal on piano, the orchestra paints a cinematic soundscape of wide-open spaces, with hand clapped rhythms, and drums, all of which evoking indie rock and British electropop. The highlight is the stirring dialogue between Le Boeuf and trumpeter Philip Dizack. The frenetic “Stop & Go” is meant to reflect Le Beouf’s multi-tasking roles as bandleader, professor, and new resident acclimating to new environs and culture. There’s an ‘80s pop feel in the verse/chorus structure and guitarist Max Light reflects that same era in his rambling solo. We hear the leader’s flute floating above shifting dynamics. “New Beginnings” returns to the expansive sonics heard in the opener but as it evolves the R&B and neo-soul of D’Angelo and Al Green emerge. Yet, more than anything it’s a tribute to the late Roy Hargrove and his RH Factor sound with Mike Rodriguez steering the main melody on flugelhorn.

“Barbara” is the first of two vocal tracks. Julia Easterlin finds a balance between jazz-tinged singer-songwriter and early ‘70s folk-pop. Martha Kato offers wonderfully graceful piano in a collaboration between Le Boeuf and the poet Sara Pirkle. The tune is for California-based sculptor Barbara Holmes, whose work adorns the cover and Pirkle’s lyrics the inside jacket. “Little Song,” is penned by trumpeter Nadje Noordhuis, and arranged by Le Boeuf who delivers a soft, lyrical introduction and continues to soar over the swelling orchestration as Wertz delivers vocalese that blends seamlessly with the alto. The tune has a nice gliding motion where one can easily envision an expansive landscape with the swelling orchestration perhaps suggesting majestic views, as if approaching the mountains, or one may interpret the undulations over the melancholy foundation as singes of emotion. There’s just a touch of Nick Drake underlying this one.

“Golden Handcuffs” displays the rich orchestrations of Assembly of Shadows, especially the four-piece trombone section and lower register woodwinds. Against this backdrop Le Boeuf and Dizack engage in another of their fiery, feisty dialogues. “Walking on Water” is the most overt of the rock influenced songs. The title references a walk across a frozen lake and the piece proves to be a vehicle for the scorching, muscular solo from tenor saxophonist Lucas Pina with Kato’s piano suggesting tread lightly footsteps in one sequence.

Le Boeuf’s bold big band orchestrations are innovative and certainly cinematic in quality. One can easily associate all kinds of visual imagery to these songs, envisioning a road trip or maybe dreaming of the next one.

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