...bold and creative and yet always swinging, nothing is static. Everything moves.
Best known to the jazz world as the composer/arranger of challenging charts played by top ensembles around the globe and the 20-year director of the award-winning jazz program at the University of Kansas, Gailey's writing has been formally recognized by awards such as the IAJE's 1996 Gil Evans Fellowship. In this, his long overdue debut album, the Dan Gailey Jazz Orchestra gives body and soul to an inspired program of originals whose art and craft call to mind the exotic colors of Ellington, the throbbing pulse of Basie, the open-ended modernism of Gil Evans and the adventurous reframings of the big band tradition by Maria Schneider.
Track Listing:
1. Audacity 7:42
2. Point No Point 9:30
3. Early Light 6:07
4. In a Big Way 6:48
5. What Did You Dream? 12:01
6. 11th Hour (for Michael Brecker) 9:25
Performers:
John Gunther - alto/sop. Saxophone
Steve Owen - alto/sop. Saxophone
Don Aliquo - tenor Saxophone
Peter Sommer - tenor Saxophone
Wil Swindler - baritone Saxophone
John Davis - lead Trumpet
Vern Sielert - Trumpet
Al Hood - Trumpet
Steve Leisring - Trumpet
Kevin Whalen - Trumpet
Nat Wickham - Trombone
Paul McKee - Trombone
Dave Glenn - Trombone
Gary Mayne - Trombone
Dana Landry - piano
Steve Kovalcheck - guitar
Erik Applegate - bass
Jim White - drums
Gray Barrier - vibes (3)
Production Info:
Produced by Gene Aitken
Recorded by Greg Heimbecker at
the University of Northern Colorado
Recording Studio; Greeley, CO, on
December 5-6, 2009
Mixed by Jim Linahon at
LMP Studios, Claremont, CA
Mastered by Robert Vosgien at
Capitol Records, Hollywood, CA
Liner notes by Dr. Chuck Berg
Cover design by John Bishop
Reviews of What Did You Dream?
All Music Guide (Adam Greenberg)
While Origin Records focuses on the Northwest, the offshoot label OA2 has a habit of finding exceptional jazz hidden away in the Midwest. A case in point is Dan Gailey, a jazz director from the University of Kansas who has a following as a composer for large ensembles. Here, he gets a chance to show off the reason behind his following. The album o ...
All About Jazz.com (Jack Bowers)
Dan Gailey has been known for years as a superb composer / arranger / saxophonist / educator but never before as leader of his own orchestra, an oversight he deftly corrects on What Did You Dream? All the music on this congenial studio date is Gailey's, and it is contemporary without being opaque, melodically and harmonically impressive without ext ...
JazzTimes.com (Harvey Siders)
For over two decades, Dan Gailey has directed the jazz program at the University of Kansas where he's Professor of Music. After enriching the books of many college bands, as well as professional bands, Dan has taken a giant leap out of the Kansas cornfields into the maelstrom of a non-campus environment with the debut release of his 18-man, all pro ...
Oregon Jazz Society (George Fendel)
Big bands may be a rarity as a professional touring concept, but in the university setting they thrive, thanks to exceptional teachers like Gailey, from the University of Kansas. Gailey's compositions and arrangements for this group, made up of polished professionals, bristle with electricity, as on the pounding swing and horn punches of the opener ...
Cadence Magazine (Larry Hollis)
To distort and old song title: "How Can I Miss The Big Bands When They Won't Go Away?" Both of these large group releases have their roots in the college education systems of Kansas and Florida respectively. 'What Did You Dream?' is the product of Dan Gailey's mind; although he isn't heard playing on the disc, all six of the selections spring fro ...