ONJ, Miho Hazama and the Power of Women in New Jazz For Large Ensembles

The ONJ continued their season of good form at Le Gesù this past Friday, November 8th. Under the direction of Grammy nominated Miho Hazama, (who we had the pleasure of interviewing here at PAN M 360), the ONJ played an evening of music showcasing compositions by Hazama herself, as well as other women in jazz including Maria Schneider and Christine Jensen. Additionally, in this same spirit, more than half of the band for this concert was made up of women musicians, most of whom formed the sizable string section.

As concerns the compositions themselves, they exemplified modern jazz band music in all of its “colours.” Here I’m using that term to refer to all the timbral considerations that must be accounted for when writing for a large jazz ensemble. Frankly, the amount of sound combinations that are available, (especially when strings are added), is massive. Hazama, however, made very pleasing and interesting choices. 

Her skill in orchestration could be discerned from the very first piece, in fact. Her composition, “Run,” began with clever use of artificial harmonics in the strings which created a pad for the horns and rhythm section to make their entrance. In some moments she proceeded with a mellower choice of brass, preferring a combo of flugelhorn, french horn, and trombone instead of trumpets; at other points it was saxophones being traded in for flute and oboe; and still in other moments, vocals were added. 

The latter was provided by the talented Sienna Dahlen who sang on several pieces and even treated the audience to a vocal solo which showed off her ability in extended vocal techniques. Other notable solos came from Jean-Pierre Zanella on soprano sax, Bill Mahar on flugelhorn, and Gentiane MG on piano.

My only true gripe came from the occasional rhythmic discrepancy in the string section. Though nothing too egregious, some punches were interpreted with a slightly different groove than the rest of the band and it didn’t seem like everyone knew when to push or pull. One poor violinist could even be heard tapping her foot determinedly in order to help her play a syncopated pizzicato section. Having said that, the entire band nailed the background figures during Kevin Warren’s drum solo, and so this groove discord was not a problem at all times. I suspect Summer Kodama’s rock solid time feel on her bass might have helped bridge this rhythmic gap as she was, perhaps even poetically, situated in the very middle of the horns, strings, and rhythm section. All told, a very successful night of eclectic modern chamber jazz for the ONJ as they continue their season programming.