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Jazz by the dozen

09-01-2008 | Music

By John Kenyon

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NOTE: Due to rain, tonight's Jazz Under the Stars has been moved indoors to Kirkwood Community College's Ballanyne Auditorium at 6301 Kirkwood Blvd. SW, Cedar Rapids.

Anyone who has spent any time listening to jazz knows the differences between the classic quartet or quintet lineup and a big band. The smaller group can turn on a dime, while the larger ensemble is set on a specific course.

The X-Tet, being really neither of those things, is able to blend the best elements of each. With 12 performers, the group is large enough to give the songs of saxophonist and composer Chris Merz some real heft, but small enough to leave plenty of room for improvisation and exploration.

“This band combines the power and tonal palette of a big band with the intimacy and flexibility of a small group,” Merz says.

Merz, director of jazz studies at the University of Northern Iowa, brings the band to KCCK's free Jazz Under the Stars series on Sept. 4 in Noelridge Park in Cedar Rapids.

It’s a rare opportunity to hear the group. Getting a dozen players together is no easy task, and when most of those players have day jobs as instructors and come from all over the Corridor and beyond, the task is even tougher.

The X-Tet got its start when Washington native Merz was teaching at the University of Massachusetts in the mid-1990s. He had a trio, but the music he was composing was growing increasingly complex.

“I started to hear bigger orchestrations,” he says.

He put together a 12-piece band for a faculty recital, and the X-Tet was born. Some grant money allowed him to record the group, which resulted in the CD, Mystery is My Story.

“Then that music went on the shelf, and I didn’t really pull it out again until I came here in 2001,” he says, adding that he did play one show in the interim with several current members of the band. He was teaching in Wyoming at the time, eager to return to his native Iowa.

“When I got the job back here, I put a band together to do some club dates,” he says of his return to Iowa to take a position at UNI.

The group, dubbed Equilateral, performed at clubs in Iowa City, Des Moines and Cedar Falls. He also reconstituted the X-Tet, performing with the group where it could.
“We played at Jazz in July in Des Moines, and did the Iowa City Jazz Fest a couple of years ago,” he says. “That kind of stuff is able to showcase a group like this.”

What it showcases is a group that plays a sophisticated brand of jazz, blending the rhythmic thrust of hard bop with the improvisational aspects of the avant garde. Merz’s compositions feature counterpoint, with sections or soloists playing against the rest of the group to create interesting melodic and textural colors.

“That’s really difficult to pull off in a small group situation,” he says. “Having a bigger group allows me to take advantage of larger orchestrations.”

At the same time, he can use the sheer volume coming from the larger number of players to emphasize certain things, using one of the benefits of a big band by writing block voicings that convey a lot of power.

“This is more of an improvisers group,” he says. “Big bands are all about the writing with some spots for solos. This group has a lot more flexibility.”

There are drawbacks to the setup, however.

“There’s an improviser in every chair, but nobody gets a lot of space,” he says.

The band is a who’s who of local jazz talent. Merz is joined by pianist and UNI professor of music Bob Washut, leader of Alto Maiz; fellow Alto Maiz members Brent Sandy (trumpet), Bob Thompson (saxophone), and Rich Medd (trombone); Jim Oatts (trumpet, leader of the Des Moines Big Band); Peter Hart (tenor saxophone, leader of the Vanguard Jazz Band); Chris Buckholz (UNI professor of trombone); Mike Giles (Iowa State University professor of saxophone); Paul Kresowik (Iowa City freelance drummer), Greg Mazunik (Iowa City freelance bassist); and Caleb Shreves (Quad Cities-area trumpet artist).

In the past, Merz has mixed some of these players with the stronger members of his UNI Jazz I group. While those players have held their own, he said he prefers established players, but not necessarily for musical reasons.

“One thing I’ve always said about this band is that if you have a 12 piece band with no subs, you don’t have a 12-piece band,” he says. “The subs are usually students, because just about all of the area heavy hitters are in the band already. The thing about having students as regulars in the band is just the transitory nature of in and out. As they move out of town, I have to fill the hole. And that means, because of the difficult nature of the music, that we have to rehearse. So I have to get them together for a rehearsal where they’re not going to get paid to prepare for a club show for which they’ll get $3.”

Music, however, does factor into his preferences, he says.

“There’s just something about having guys who are all roughly the same age,” he says. “If I say to the rhythm section, ‘I want a Donald Fagen vibe on this,’ they know who I’m talking about. The students probably don’t.”

Merz has been able to attract the top players from the area in part because the chance to play with a larger band in a live setting outside the academy is fleeting.

“The guys that are playing in the group, once we got together – there might have been a lot of skepticism at first,” he says, citing the common thought that big band jazz usually equates to a wedding dance. “They thought, ‘Is this going to be worth it, because I know I’m not going to make much money.’ But once they realized what it was about, they got on board really quickly. There are not a lot of opportunities to do everything they can do.”

The number of top-flight performers in the area is on the rise, as the University of Iowa and UNI are now joined by Drake University and ISU in turning out good players, he says.

“So there is a surplus of good and really creative musicians,” he says. “Supply far outstrips demand. It can be frustrating, it can be really tough.”