For those unaware, veteran trumpeter and pedagogue Jim Rotondi has just released his new album Finesse, an intricately interwoven masterpiece for big band and orchestra arranged and conducted by Vienna’s Jakob Helling, featuring Steve Davis, Dick Oatts and Danny Grisset (via Cellar Music Group).

Simply put, Finesse is a new masterwork for big band and orchestra by great trumpeter, composer and educator Jim Rotondi. Known for his longstanding and star-studded career extensively throughout New York and wider Europe for over 30 years, Rotondi has been a steady member of the ensembles of everyone from Toshiko Akiyoshi and Bob Mintzer to the small groups of Lou Donaldson, Curtis Fuller, and Joe Chambers.

Now, after having already made his mark on the landscape of jazz with eight albums as a bandleader, Rotondi steps forward to bring about a longstanding dream and the fulfillment of one of the great legacies of jazz history: a large ensemble album featuring both big band and orchestra.

Aptly entitled Finesse, Rotondi’s ninth album comprises an orchestra of virtuosi conducted and arranged by Jakob Helling, all of whom are steeped in the historically and musically rich tradition of Austria, where Rotondi currently resides and teaches.

The manifold brilliance of this cast does not stop there, however, as Rotondi also called on his peers, the legendary trombonist Steve Davis, saxophonist Dick Oatts and pianist Danny Grisset from his prolific decades in New York.

With robust arrangements, luscious orchestrations, and tantalizingly crafted solos, Finesse is poised to be Rotondi’s most profound and indelible mark on the world of jazz and creative music to-date.

1. Ruth (7:30)
2. Dark Blue (6:47)
3. Ladybug (8:04) (Danny Grissett, piano)
4. Designated Hitter (4:22) (Mario Gonzi, drums)
5. Falset (7:41) (Dick Oatts, soprano saxophone)
6. Before Curtis (0:40) (Clemens Hofer, Mario Vavti, Johannes Herrlich, and Christina Lachberger, trombones)
7. For Curtis (7:11) (Danny Grissett, piano)
8. Going to the Sun (6:28)
9. Prelude for 14 Strings and Flute (1:11) (Herwig Gradischnig, baritone saxophone)
10. Interlude (5:02) (Danny Grissett, piano)
11. In Graz (7:35) (Martin Fuss, alto saxophone)
12. Happy Feet (6:06) (Daniel Nösig, trumpet)
13. Miller time (8:22) (Steve Davis, trombone)

This brilliantly-hued new recording opens on the luxuriant sculpted Ruth and the veritably cinematic Dark Blue and they are followed by the flamboyant Ladybug, the charged Designated Hitter, and then come the soothingly rhythmic Falset and the short, but sweet languishing Before Curtis.

Along next is the short, but sweet, perky and playful Before Curtis and the melodic Going to the Sun and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the low slung short Prelude for 14 Strings and Flute, the ornate beauty found within Interlude, the fervent In Graz, the album rounding out on the all-embracing Happy Feet, coming to a close on the richly decadent ebb and flow that propels Miller time.

In conclusion, the album marks an acknowledgement of the highest, most celebrated points of the jazz tradition and history and uses this jubilant vehicle of combined orchestra and big band to raise the bar and set the stage for the familiar to be utilized in new, endlessly inventive ways.

With Finesse, Rotondi showcases the sheer creative force that comes with clear vision and a decisive ability to collaborate with a strong shared goal. Indeed, as the title clearly states, Finesse is a work of adroit aptitude and endlessly subtle brilliance that could only be pulled off by one who possesses the album’s namesake quality in such potency as Rotondi.

Official Purchase Link