Jihye Lee Orchestra: Daring Mind
Motéma Music

As excellent as the musicianship is on Daring Mind, the sophomore album from the Jihye Lee Orchestra, it's the compositions by the South Korea native that recommend the release most. As the nine pieces show, she's developed a distinctive and personal voice as a composer, and one that came about in rather unusual manner. Growing up, she received no jazz or classical training and, in fact, first tasted success as an indie pop singer in her homeland. A degree in Voice Performance at Dongduk Women's University led to enrolment at Berklee in 2011, where her affinity for large-ensemble jazz took hold. A successful tenure at the Boston institution prompted a New York move four years later for a graduate degree from the Manhattan School of Music and two years after that the release of her debut collection April.

Perhaps that unusual compositional character derives in part from her approach. Not being an instrumentalist, Lee doesn't form her pieces from root chords or melodies but from a larger concept she then strives to render into musical form. Her one-time association with pop emerges in the melodic emphasis in her jazz writing, which also reflects a heightened sensitivity to tone colour in its arrangements. In classic Ellington manner, Lee crafts her pieces with particular instruments in mind, such that the group's players are able to impose their stamp on the material too.

Interspersed amongst the nine pieces are four from her ‘Mind' Series,' which were written to reflect her experiences, good and bad, adopting to New York City. Her liner notes for each track testify to the personal dimension of the release, with Lee repeatedly stressing the challenges an artist faces but also emphasizing the value of a support network (she even used her ex-boyfriend's initials as the title for “GB”). Having Darcy James Argue in your corner as co-producer is never a bad thing either, and as a result Daring Mind achieves a vibrancy in its presentation that make the material all the more appealing. Lee conducts a seventeen-member orchestra, with five woodwinds, eight horns, guitar, piano, bass, and drums granting the composer a broad palette to work with. Trumpeter Sean Jones is accorded special status as a guest artist, but it's the collective as a whole that shines.

Like traffic horns, trumpets and trombones punctuate a slinky groove in “Relentless Mind,” the effect calling to mind the bluster of midtown Manhattan and the excitement of the city. Jones and trombonist Alan Ferber soar across a dense, woodwinds-heavy swirl, the musicians' sounds suggestive of the, yes, relentless cross-currents of activity that give the city its character. As adventurous but more labyrinthine in design is “I Dare You,” which sees Quensin Nachoff's inspired tenor sax accented by horn squawks, honks, and other twists and turns.

Emblematic of Lee's compositional strategy, a note repeats throughout “Unshakable Mind” (awarded the 2018 BMI Charlie Parker Composition Prize) to allude to the determination and constancy needed to succeed in an environment where pressure is unrelenting. Luscious horn textures swell to convey the immensity of the challenge (as does powerful drumming by Mark Ferber), but quiet moments surface too, with Evan Gregor delivering a strong bass solo and guitarist Sebastian Noelle joining him for unison statements.

Lee's lyrical bent comes to the fore in “Suji,” an intimate, chamber-styled reverie (written for one of her dearest friends) distinguished by pianist Adam Birnbaum. Even sunnier is Lee's celebration of spring's rejuvenating spirit, “Revived Mind,” which weaves Asian melodic flourishes, flute sweetening, and a trombone turn by Mike Fahie into its joyful design. Uplifting too is the soulful “Struggle Gives You Strength,” which affords Lee, soloist Sean Jones, and others a dynamic opportunity to work blues-gospel flavour into the set.

March 2021