Aftermath
Chelsea McBride’s Socialist Night School
Independent (crymmusic.com)
Chelsea McBride’s Socialist Night School is a modern jazz orchestra that’s been producing contemporary music only since about 2014 yet this is the group’s third recording and second full-length album. This is no mean feat for a small group, but for a 19-piece big band it’s extremely impressive. Even more impressive is the scope of this album. With ten tracks mostly clocking in at seven to eight minutes each, it tackles all kinds of ideas both musically and lyrically with all the songs written, arranged and conducted by McBride.
The main theme of Aftermath is conflict and, as such, it’s not surprising that the overall feel of the music is driving and angular and that there are sometimes less-than-pretty sounds used to convey the ideas. The opening track, Revolution Blues, was inspired by the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (The one and only good thing I can say about Trump is he’s inadvertently inspired some great art.) House on Fire with its carnival vibe, delves into the impact corporate greed has on our world. There are some melancholy beauties here too, like Say You Love Me and The Void Becomes You.
McBride formed the band shortly after graduating from Humber College and the majority of the players are her 20-something contemporaries along with a few veterans like trombonist William Carn and saxophonist Colleen Allen, the latter of whom is featured on the Me Too ode, Porcelain along with Naomi Higgins. Trumpeter Tom Upjohn takes an epic turn on Ballad of the Arboghast. The musicianship throughout the recording is superb but singer Alex Samaras deserves special mention. He executes the challenging melodies with skill and adds much musicality and warmth with his beautiful voice.
Aftermath is a big, ambitious project well worth the attention of fans of modern big band music.
