Bill McFarland and The Chicago Horns

The Chicago Reader Magazine
Critics's Choice

Article By:
World Renowned Writer: Neil Tesser
Winter/1996

         You almost can't go wrong with a lineup like Bill McFarland's: a potent, hard-driving outfit that matches his throaty trombone with a beef-stew saxophonist, in this case Hank Ford or a fluent, octave-stretching trumpet ace named Kenny Anderson.  This kind of three-horn sextet first appeared in the 1940's, as a bebop miniaturization of the big bands that had dominated the swing era.  It disappeared for most of the next decade - in part because of the paucity of trombonists able to handle the technical demands of bot - but it reached it's zenith when Art Blakey expanded his Jazz Messengers to a three-horn line in the 1960's.  The Messengers offer an obvious model for McFarland's band.  But so does the music of the Jazz Crusaders ( and not just on those tunes where electronic keyboards replace the standard piano).  Several of the songs on the Chicago Horns' fine debut - "Fire Horns" (Sopro Records) - show the lighter swing, the comparatively relaxed melodies and the pop-soul song structure that made the Crusaders one of the most popular jazz bands of the late 1960's.  Both the Messengers and the Crusaders always featured strong piano personalities, and in this respect McFarland again brags on his roots: you needn't go any further than the album's opening track, the McFarland composition (and Chicago's deceased-mayoral dedication) "Harold The Great," which depends on the crisp and imaginative piano fills by Osamu Sam Soda as much as it does on the three horns.  Soda leads a sparkling rhythm section, with bassist Mike Staron and drummer Rick Vitek, who dances the tightrope between timekeeping and pure energy.  Meanwhile, the horns themselves fit the music and each other as tight as O.J.'s gloves.
        (By the by, McFarland and Anderson both lend their estimable talents to Africa Brass, the gleaming locomotive of a band conducted by Malachi Thompson.)

Article By: Neil Tesser