J.E. Chapman's name may not ring a bell with many attentive observers of Kansas City's jazz scene, but the credits of his album 364 Days read like a regional who's-who. The notable musicians contributing to the project include Clint Ashlock, Chris Burnett, Ryan Heinlein, Steve Lambert, the Leifer brothers, Hermon Mehari, Andrew Ouellette and Brian Steever. In the tradition of grand-scale compositions by Gil Evans and Bob Brookmeyer, 364 Days is an admirably ambitious and entirely fetching work. Chapman describes the big band suite as "21st century jazz compositions with reverence, respect, and homage to the past jazz composition masters." I consider it a worthy sequel to Bobby Watson's swinging The Gates BBQ Suite.
(Original image by Plastic Sax.)
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