Lickety Split: Music Of Jim McNeely

The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra is an outstanding contemporary big band, a Monday-night institution at the Village Vanguard that's a direct continuation of the aggregation first co-led by the late Thad Jones and Mel Lewis. It's a labor of love for some of New York's finest players, and pianist Jim McNeely is a longtime member. He has a facility with big-band writing that's rare, balancing complex sectional play, polyrhythms, and rich voicings with a dedicated sense of swing and the ability to set off solos with his backdrops. The band is clearly stimulated by the thoughtful--truly orchestral--charts. Boppish lines, like "Extra Credit," are executed with the ease and celerity of a quintet, while the sections blend perfectly on the sonorous chords of "In the Wee Small Hours." --Stuart Broomer