The Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra - Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra: Down a Rabbit Hole (2018)

The trick about falling down rabbit holes is knowing how to get back out. The insistently inventive composer, arranger, bandleader and educator Ayn Inserto has built a brilliant career around her gift for designing fantastical but slyly logical musical landscapes and crafting sonic adventures marked by sinuously surprising melodies, Technicolor harmonies, and arrestingly vivid voicings. Due for release on Summit Records on September 21, 2018, the Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra's first new album in a decade, Down a Rabbit Hole, reintroduces her sly and imaginative musical world, a realm populated by some of jazz's most expressive improvisers.

In many ways Inserto conceived Rabbit Hole to showcase her three special guests - trumpet star Sean Jones, tenor sax great George Garzone, and trombonist John Fedchock - along with her exceptional cast of players many of whom have been with her since she launched the group in 2001. "I saw the album as an opportunity to feature these three amazing musicians, people I consider good friends and musical influences," says Inserto. "They're three artists who don't necessarily play together so it was really fun to bring them together."

A protégé of legendary trombonist/arranger/composer Bob Brookmeyer, Inserto has ascended to jazz's top ranks over the past two decades, earning numerous awards and commissions. Her last release, 2015's Home Away From Home (Neuklang Records), documented her collaboration with Italy's acclaimed Colours Jazz Orchestra. With Rabbit Hole, she's landed back on home turf. From the first track "Three and Me," her bespoke sensibility provides her guest triumvirate with passages tailored to their musical personalities.

She arranged "BJ's Tune" as a vehicle for Jones' gorgeous trumpet, a sound as rich and glorious as any on the scene. His poised solo is a case study in melodic development as the band gently churns underneath his ascending lines. Inserto doesn't really write programmatic music, but the briskly swinging "Mister and Dudley" does capture the frisky energy and quotidian pleasures of spending time with the tune's sources of inspiration. Inspired by Fedchock and bass trombonist Jennifer Wharton's two namesake dogs, the piece evokes the pooches with affable affection.

Inserto recorded the title track, which was commissioned by the Amherst Jazz Ensemble, on her last album with Colours Jazz Orchestra, but that sojourn underground was a relatively calm excursion. Unleashing Garzone on the tempestuous chart results in a whirlwind adventure with his Mad Hatter saxophone inciting the band's tea party rumpus. The album's centerpiece is Inserto's two-part suite pairing of "Ze Teach" with "And Me," a commission by Madison Technical College. The first piece is inspired by Brookmeyer (who signed off on notes to Inserto as "Ze Teach") while the second movement is a powerhouse statement driven by her sensational rhythm section with guitarist Eric Hofbauer, pianist Jason Yeager, bassist Sean Farias, and drummer Austin McMahon (whose supple touch and architectural sense of form always elevates her music).

There are any number of ways to run and maintain a jazz orchestra. Duke Ellington's ornery crew was famous for its long-running feuds and disputations, a bumptious environment that clearly didn't impede his unprecedented creative output. Inserto has taken the opposite tack, fostering a familial vibe that encompasses her special guests. She met Jones during his tenure as chair of the Berklee College of Music's brass department. "We started collaborating early on," she says. "I've gotten to know him really well and was so excited he was into recording."

Garzone, who has mentored several generations of improvisers and is the subject of a new documentary Let Be What Is, has appeared on every album by Inserto's orchestra. Though not an official member, he has played an essential role in shaping the group's sound. Fedchock has intersected with Inserto in various ways over the years, from hiring her as a copyist way back when to marrying her longtime friend, the orchestra's able bass trombonist Jennifer Wharton.

Inserto worked assiduously to foster an environment in which exceptional musicians like trumpeter Dan Rosenthal, saxophonist Allan Chase, and reed expert/flutist Rick Stone can thrive. "I always cook for my band," she says. "Any time we have a gig I make sure they have food. I consider lot of the players close friends. My husband Jeff Claassen plays lead trumpet. There's a trombone and bass trombone duet in 'Mr. and Dudley,' featuring Jen and John. Randy Pingrey (trombone) and Kathy Olson (bari sax) are another married couple. There's not a single person in the band who I couldn't call on or hang out with."