Maria Schneider vs. Data Lords

Maria Schneider
Session photography by Briene Lermitte

I have been listening to the Maria Schneider Orchestra for about 25 years, and I had always characterized her work as ethereal, uplifting, yet vigorous. For most of her career, she has avoided big music companies so she can own her music and work for herself. 

She has been working with ArtistShare, dedicated to supporting independent musicians with a platform for artists, focusing on crowdfunding for raising capital, and connecting artists with fans, as noted in the organization’s website. 

Over the years, as the music business has become a streaming industry, Schneider has spoken out about the way artists have little revenue from this arrangement. 

With this two-disc album, Data Lords, released in 2020, Schneider seems to have boiled over about industry trends. The music on this album is dedicated to calling out the “Data Lords” of social media, the music business and other grifters who exploit the natural world for financial gain. 

The Digital World

The Data Lords are spanked on one disc with grating bombast on The Digital World. The other disc is titled Our Natural World, which brings us back to music that is ethereal, uplifting, yet vigorous. 

“A World Lost" is the first song on The Digital World, with the mournful long tones of Ben Monder, sounding like a funeral dirge. 

Next is “Don’t Be Evil,” using this title in mockery of Google’s motto. Trombones sound like chattering clowns, then they stir up a thick dust storm that settles into some twinkling of ivories as the buffoons come again at the end.

“CQCQ,” was a call from Schneider’s father, who was a ham radio operator. The call means “Is anybody there?” She worked this memory into an anthem for the Data Lords, using Morse code and radio waves expressed as music. Later, the electronics may feel like sitting in an electric chair for a long time — in a good musical way.

“Data Lords,” the song, brings discordant blasts, slams of percussion, and Mike Rodriguez’s trumpet with electronics spewing fear. 

I have never heard such music from her, and it’s really exciting, like a horror movie.

Our Natural World

If you play both discs in this order, at this point, you can catch your breath and listen to more iconic, graceful Maria music, with quirks and surprises.

“Sanzenin” is a Buddhist term, perfect for this stately, ethereal piece. Gary Versace, playing accordion, spins squiggly lines of joy.

Steve Wilson, playing soprano sax, creates a feeling of squirrels and birds chattering and chirping on “Stone Song.” 

With “Bluebird,” we are fully back in the groove of ethereal, uplifting, yet vigorous. Again, Wilson, this time on alto, takes one of those long building solos as the whole band lifts him chorus by chorus. Versace lands the plane gently.

On “The Sun Waited for Me,” Donny McCaslin on tenor and Marshall Gilkes on trombone are threading lines around each other until McCaslin takes over with a jumpy solo.

One more thing

Will Schneider continue with the character of Data Lords? Actually, I liked that disc better, although Our Natural World is also outstanding. But I would miss all of that bombast and electronics if she goes back to the same approach. It would be appropriate to use these newly found components by the composer and the band in future projects. 

Look up Data Lords, the two-disc album, at ArtistShare.