Pianist Aaron Deihl brings his working trio of David Wong/b and Aaron Kimmel/dr to create a chamber orchestra rendition of Mary Lou Williams’ classic Zodiac Suite. The trio is joined by the orchestra named The Knights, directed by Eric and Colin Jacbsen, along with guests Evan Christopher/cl, Nicole Glover/ts, Brandon Lee/tp and Mikaela Bennett/voc.
The trio mixes and matches like pieces in a mosaic, with Bennett operatic on the rich “Pisces” and Diehl sounding very Gershwinish on the pretty “Libra” and bluesy for “ Taurus”. Christopher boogies on “Gemini”, and gets melancholic with the strings on “Scorpio”. Lee gets down on “Leo” with Glover brooding on “Cancer” The woodwinds bring and easy swing to “Aries” and are dreamlike for the fluffy “Sagittarius” . This suite is usually presented in either solo piano or trio format, so finally hearing it the way it was meant is refreshing, and it sounds completely modern.