Mike Vax & MVJO CD "Alternate Route"
Jazz News Review | Spring 2000
MIKE VAX and MVJO, ALTERNATE ROUTE, Sea Breeze 2102
Mike Vax, director, lead trumpet, flugelhorn; Marvin McFadden, Steve Campos, Rolf Johnson, Tim Acosta, trumpet, flugelhorn; Rory Snyder, Larry de la Cruz, alto sax, flute; Alex Murzyn, tenor sax, flute, clarinet; James Carraway, tenor sax; Howard Cespedes, baritone sax, bass clarinet; Dean Hubbard, Troy Ostwald, Peggy Vax, trombone; Mara Fox, Neil van Valkenburgh, bass trombone; Si Perkoff, piano; Randy Vincent, guitar; Mario Suraci, bass; Dave Rokeach, drums. With special guests Pete Escovedo, Latin percussion; Cami Thompson, vocals.
Alternate Route; Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most; I'm Old Fashioned; Variations on a Brazilian Folk Song; What a Wonderful World; It Might as Well Be Spring; New Wages; Splank; San Miguel; Duke Ellington, Sound of Love; Embrace-able You; Music for Dancing (67:33).
Don't let the title mislead you; the road traveled by trumpeter Mike Vax and the New Oakland Jazz Orchestra is as orderly and unbending as those paved by Count Basie, Woody Herman and other legendary architects of big-band Jazz. In Other words, this is swinging big-band music of the highest order. The "alternate route" refers to the singular way in which NOJO is organized, as a non-profit association whose philanthropic arm, Friends of Big Band Jazz, is actively involved in the community at large through a number of altruistic enterprises.
When someone as widely respected as composer / arranger Pete Rugolo writes that Alternate Route is "one of the finest big band CDs" he has heard in many years, and his opinion is reinforced by the of former Stan Kenton saxophonist / arranger Lennie Niehaus, one can presume that NOJO must have something special to offer -- which indeed it does. With Vax's blazing high-note trumpet leading the way, the ensemble scurries through a varied and colorful pastiche that consists of five well-known standards, five outstanding new compositions, and Jazz evergreens by Charles Mingus (Duke Ellington, Sound of Love) and Al Cohn (Music for Dancing).
NOJO is strong in every area and its debut is nothing less than spectacular, underscored by superior musicianship, resourceful soloists and eye-popping compositions and arrangements. While Vax is aces-high on five numbers, he's not the only trump card in the deck; winning hands are played as well by trumpeter Rolf Johnson, altos Rory Snyder and Larry de la Cruz, tenor Alex Murzyn and James Carraway, Guitarist Randy Vincent, pianist Si Perkoff and drummer Dave Rokeach who directs the band's high-power rhythm section. Trumpeter Steve Campos is featured on the lovely ballad Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most and again on Jules Rowell's Basie-inspired composition, S plank. Vax is especially effective on Jerome Kern / Johnny Mercer's I'm Old Fashioned and John Luebke's sparkling bossa, San Miguel. NOJO's guest artists --the beguiling Cami Thompson (It Might as Well Be Spring, Embraceable You) and fiery percussionist Pete Escovedo (San Miguel, Embraceable You, Howard Cespedes' New Wages Bennett Freedman's Variation on a Brazilian Folk Song) -- are superb in every respect. Whatever route you choose, you can ensure an agreeable traveling companion simply by inviting Mike Vax and NOJO along for the ride.
— Jack Bowers
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