Bigger band: ‘Dynamic Maximum Tension’

I didn't know about Darcy James Argue until Randy Hamm brought Argue to Missouri State for the Jazz Studies students to hear in 2012. The next year, I found Argue's big band, the Secret Society. Then a decade went along. 

I recently discovered his massive two-disc album, Dynamic Maximum Tension, which contains a 35-minute piece that feels like a four-movement symphony. The band has 22 players, with violin, guitar, voice, and a 10-string hardanger d'amore.

The first disc starts with a little cheer and splash of sugar, then a barrage of baritone sax. The second piece creates a ballast of low tones for trumpeter Nadje Noordhuis’s silky tone. The first disc ends with bass player Matt Clohesy and trumpeter Ingrid Jensen skillfully interweaving throughout the piece.

There are seven long solos on “Tensile Curves,” and when the whole band explodes, it’s really fun, but it’s hard to understand what’s happening. The last piece of the second disc is “Mae West: Advice.” Cécile McLorin Salvant, with her precise and delightful singing, blends with Ingrid Jensen’s smooth but swift delivery on trumpet.