THE MARIA SCHNEIDER ORCHESTRA REVISITS GRAMMY-WINNING ALBUM' DATA LORDS' AT THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY CONCERT SERIES.

Composer Maria Schneider

Suppose you attended the Maria Schneider Orchestra concert at Hill Auditorium Saturday night and expected it to swing through standards from greats such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Gil Evans. In that case, you set yourself up to be disappointed. Not to say those innovators didn't heavily influence Schneider's career. Over the years, what distinguishes Schneider's orchestra is it straddles the lines of the avant-garde. That was apparent throughout the concert but more so when the orchestra performed "CQ CQ Is Anybody There, " which appeared as if Schneider had the orchestra deciphering a morse code. For those audience members hoping the orchestra would perform music from the American songbook, Schneider teased the audience, opening the two-hour concert with the standard "That Old Black Magic," but that was the only oldie her orchestra offered. The orchestra didn't run through it as initially conceived. Instead, Schneider had her orchestra strip "That Old Black Magic" down to the original surface and applied a new finish. Schneider has populated her jazz orchestra with imaginative, swing-driven improvisers such as trumpeter Nadje Noordhuis, saxophonists Donny McCaslin and Steve Wilson, trombonist Marshall Gilkes, drummer Johnathan Blake, and pianist  Gary Versace. Each of which Schneider featured during the terrific concert. The orchestra has all the music and star power of legendary swing-era big bands. As a composer, Schneider partly writes for a particular soloist, understanding every square inch of their chops. So on "Look Up," Marshall Gilkes was featured, and his solo increased the audience's blood circulation, and Steve Wilson on "Stone Song" gobbled up the notes like they were junk food. And when called to address the congregation, saxophonist Donny McClasin blew the auditorium doors off their hinges. The orchestra revisited music from Schneider's 2020 Grammy-winner "Data Lords." This live iteration of the project was equally inspired and eclectic as when Schneider initially unveiled the project.