Fire Orchestra - big band jazz gone terribly wrong, its so right

[flytomars]

I just came back from 2 shows by Fire Orchestra.
Wow, just wow.
A little prologue- Fire Orchestra are basically Fire! trio of Mats Gustafsson (sax), Johan Berthling (bass) and Andreas Werlin ( drums) augmented by a list of fine jazz musicians from Sweden, Norway etc
This band has just become my favourite current performing/active band (taking the place of Piniol )
For lovers of Carla Bley's Escalator over the hill, Keith Tippett's Ark, Don Ellis's Electric bath and all the other kinds of big-jazz-avant-rock-goodness - this band is for you.
Last album "Ritual" is a mammoth, a 2 drumnered beast with a huge brass section spiced up by electronic touches, it is probably my favourite album from the recent millennium.
For the new piece, "Arrival", the band lost a drummer and half of the brass and electronics in favour of a string quartet- but don't let the semi-acoustic version of this band fool you, the main ingredients are still there and this version is still ballsier (is that a word? ) than any jazz outfit you can think of, only now it is a bit more contemplative and introspective.
This band has an amazing dynamics, the vocalists going from angelic to diabolic wailing banshee (but still retaining perfect pitch), the band going from a tight unison to a manic controlled jazz chaos, from a single instrument playing a single note or drone to a full band bonanza, sometime all in a timeframe of several minutes.
Of course none of this wouldn't have worked if the main melodies were not worthwhile, and IMHO they are absolutely gorgeous.
I am sorry if I am gushing like a helpless fanboy, but what can I say... Guilty as charged
(I am not affiliated with the band in any way)
So if you are a fan of big jazz bands that assimilate all the musical knowledge gained in the last (thousands of) years, do yourself a favour and catch them live, and if not- at least get "Ritual" (and "Arrival, once it is out )
I am attaching a video of them doing "Ritual" live, unfortunately there is no decent video of "Arrival" yet as it is still evolving and does not sound anything like the 2017 sole show that appears in YouTube.

[Koreabruce]

Pretty intense stuff... thanks for sharing! I'll have to return to this to absorb it more fully, but it already made a good impression.

[Levgan]

I'm jealous – where have you seen them? Mats is bringing his Fire trio to Moscow almost every year, and I make sure not to miss any of their shows (always lots of fun, and Mats is a super-friendly guy too, nice to have a chat with), but Fire Orchestra just proves too expensive to bring here for a handful of Russian promotors eager to deal with this kind of music.

[Zappathustra]

Listening to Ritual now. Great stuff. Thanks.

[TCC]

Thanks for sharing!.
A fan here of the orchestra and the trio too !
I share your enthusiasm!!.

Thanks for the H.U.!!

[chalkpie]

Pretty intense stuff... thanks for sharing! I'll have to return to this to absorb it more fully, but it already made a good impression.

+1. Thanks for the heads-up, this seems like the next generation of dixieland space jazz.

[Poisoned Youth]

Oh yeah, this is great stuff. I have followed Gustafsson's career for a while, but the Fire! Orchestra material is his best work. I think my favorite is Exit!, but enjoy all of them.

Thanks for sharing the video!

[flytomars]

I'm jealous – where have you seen them? Mats is bringing his Fire trio to Moscow almost every year, and I make sure not to miss any of their shows (always lots of fun, and Mats is a super-friendly guy too, nice to have a chat with), but Fire Orchestra just proves too expensive to bring here for a handful of Russian promotors eager to deal with this kind of music.

I have seen them in Copenhagen and in Malmo, flew over for the weekend.
When I made plans I was hoping for Ritual, then to my dismay found out that the lineup has completely changed (I prefer brass and extra drummer and electronics to a violin quartet any day).
Then to add to that, a few days before the show I got an email that Mats Gustafson will not be in these shows because he is suffering from the flu
I was starting to think that perhaps it was a bad idea after all...
Pffft, Mats or no Mats, the new piece is a killer, I do not know if Mats was missed or not as I have no reference, I just know the new piece was amazing and I cant wait for it to come out.
By the way the encore was a cathartic version of "at last I am free", I get a kick out of the fact that this song is originally by Chic and has such fabulous versions as Robert Wyatt, Cassiber and now this one.

[flytomars]

Oh yeah, this is great stuff. I have followed Gustafsson's career for a while, but the Fire! Orchestra material is his best work. I think my favorite is Exit!, but enjoy all of them.

Thanks for sharing the video!

I have and love all of their albums, but for me every album was a musical peak that was surpassed by the next one

[Thomas]

I agree that Fire! Orchestra is an amazing band with fantastic musicians on record. Live, they *really* take off. Since they are a big group (14 in this incarnation), they are expensive to book, so if you get the opportunity to see them live, do it!

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Not a huge fan of vocals/vocal sections of theirsongs but when they let loose they can kick up a ruckus. Shame to hear a drummer left, but good to know a new album is in the works.

[flytomars]

Not a huge fan of vocals/vocal sections of theirsongs but when they let loose they can kick up a ruckus. Shame to hear a drummer left, but good to know a new album is in the works.

There were 2 drummers originally, so the "main" drummer from Fire! Is still there.

Coincidentally - NP- Fire!- The hands, latest album by the trio, first listen but sounds promising

[rcarlberg]

So if you are a fan of big jazz bands

I'm not used to "big band jazz" having a couple of sleep-walking vocalists.

[Poisoned Youth]

I'm not used to "big band jazz" having a couple of sleep-walking vocalists.

Actually, the more I think about it, FO reminds me a bit of Magma.

[flytomars]

I'm not used to "big band jazz" having a couple of sleep-walking vocalists.

Funny you mention that, generally I hate vocals in jazz (especially scatting, I even cringe when Christian Vander is doing it) but I love FO vocals, especially Mariam's vocals.

[Facelift]

Funny you mention that, generally I hate vocals in jazz (especially scatting, I even cringe when Christian Vander is doing it) but I love FO vocals, especially Mariam's vocals.

Scatting is the only acceptable form of jazz vocals (though it is still discouraged) and jazz is the only music where scatting is acceptable.

IMO.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

There were 2 drummers originally, so the "main" drummer from Fire! Is still there.

Coincidentally - NP- Fire!- The hands, latest album by the trio, first listen but sounds promising

Ah, didn't realize that. Still...

And the new Fire! is on it's way to me as we type. I much prefer Fire! to Fire! Orchestra.

[spacefreak]

Fire! Orchestra albums are just wonderful.

Saw Fire! several times live and they were terrific. Unfortunately never had the opportunity for Fire! Orchestra; travel expenses would be unproportional in relation to the number of people willing to attend, as Lev noted above..

[Thomas]

[QUOTE=flytomars;780789]There were 2 drummers originally, so the "main" drummer from Fire! Is still there.

Actually, the first edition of Fire! Orchestra had four drummers. The next version had three. Now they are down to one. I wonder what will happen next...

[Levgan]

Actually, the more I think about it, FO reminds me a bit of Magma.

I had the same impression.

By the way the encore was a cathartic version of "at last I am free", I get a kick out of the fact that this song is originally by Chic and has such fabulous versions as Robert Wyatt, Cassiber and now this one.

Damn, I'm twice as jealous now as I was when I first opened this thread

[Zappathustra]

The Hands is brilliant, I listened in YouTube and heading for the vinyl tomorrow.

[mike_hunt]

New album Arrival was released yesterday. I'm really enjoying it. A couple of excellent covers- "Blue Crystal Fire" and "At Last I Am Free", and "Dressed In Smoke. Blown Away" is a Fire! Orchestra version of "To Shave The Leaves. In Red. In Black." from The Hands.

Hope I get to see them live someday. Finally got to see Fire! earlier this year at Big Ears.

[flytomars]

Thanks for the heads up, I've been waiting for this to be released ever since I saw it live and had no idea it was out!

[Hobo Chang Ba]

They've really moved away from that avant/free jazz big band thing they started out as with this new one.

[Baribrotzer]

I am attaching a video of them doing "Ritual" live, unfortunately there is no decent video of "Arrival" yet as it is still evolving and does not sound anything like the 2017 sole show that appears in YouTube.

Reminds me somewhat of Septober Energy, by Centipede. Also Ginger Baker's Air Force, minus the blues influence and the attempts at pop tunes.

The tuba player is amusing - a large man sitting calmly in the midst of furious activity, and stolidly puffing away on a large instrument.