Meet the Jazz Composers Forum (8): Frank Vaganée

Els vuit compositors convidats per l'Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos parlen sobre la seva experiència amb la big band portuguesa. Concert el 16 de març a Luz de Gas (20.00h). Entrades a 1 euro pels Amics del Jazz/Club The Project.

1. How was for you the experience to work with the OJM?

I know OJM now for 9 years. In 2005 I had the chance to sit in as a lead altosaxophonist and did a few concerts and a cd-recording with special guest Chris Cheek. So since that time I have on and off contact with their pianist and composer Carlos Azevedo. I loved to work with them. The orchestra contains a lot of talented musicians and they all have a great mentality, each as a person and as an orchestra. It's fun to rehearse and play concerts with them. And the hang afterwards is great too. They are always looking for interesting projects such as this one. Gathering composers from both sides the Atlantic and create new music.

2. Can you define the piece you wrote for them, Reclusion?

When they asked me to write, I had this instant idea to feature the first altoplayer of the OJM, José Luis Rêgo. He is a very musical player and I love the way he sounds. Ten minutes of a warm ballad into the heat and energy of the tutti. It starts as a ballad, slow and intimate, lots of space for the alto saxophone to interpret the melody and later on to improvise on it. The arrangement evolves to a big tutti, where the saxophone section gets a variety of melodic lines to play and brass adds accents to these lines ending in a counterpoint section back into the ballad tempo.