It might upset Duke Ellington somewhat but the beauty of being right here right now is that you don’t need a big band. You can be your own big band, whether it’s five, ten, fifteen or a fifteen hundred piece. And for the brains behind it, as the Duke would no doubt tell you, having nursed his orchestra through the lean times, it’s great when you don’t have to worry about paying people. Daniel Zelonky is just like Leo Sayer or Bob Log III, a one man band, though he just happens to sound like a spaced out 12 piece, tapping into Latin grooves, Sun Ra’s decadent mythology (actually covering an unreleased Sun Ra track Intergalactic Research) and numerous other big band excursions. It’s his ‘imagined orchestra, and the title tells the story and neatly pigeonholes it in seven different worlds, jazz , salsa, psychedelic jazz, exotica, cocktail, hip hop grooves. There are links to Herbert’s big band, though even he hasn’t been so bold, He gets the swing going, hand percussion and horns, then low key guitar. Zelonky definitely has a fine appreciation of his ancestry, playing loose and sounding like the work of twenty musicians.
Bob Baker Fish
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