Review: LA JOLLA MUSIC SOCIETY BRINGS Jihye Lee's BIG BAND TO The JAI at The Conrad

Jihye Lee’s 13-piece big band opened its second of two sets at The JAI in La Jolla with an original she called “Why Is That.” She explained the title in a 2024 Jazz Times interview. “I started out writing a simple blues tune, but it didn’t go well. … Why Is That? Why can’t I do that?”

Since she’s asked, I’ll take a stab at answering.

Lee was raised in Korea and graduated from a Korean University with a major in voice performance. After graduation, she sang locally as an Indie K-pop singer.

She had little or no experience with the blues or jazz before moving to the U.S. to attend the Berklee School of music in Boston where she began training as a jazz arranger/composer because registrations were closed for the classical, sound track and pop equivalents she’d planned to choose from.

That’s why “Why Is That” starts with the feel of a Count Basie blues - hip piano, drums and walking bass, and the mood continues when brash trumpets first demand attention. But Basie’s smooth bluesy swing soon feels the effects of more complex Korean rhythms and quirkier melodies and chord progressions.

Soloists have always been a critical element of a big band’s success. Baritone sax player Carl Maraghi was the first of this evening, and he's a good one. But he sounded more modern jazz than bluesy or Korean, losing the mood, and me temporarily, after the brass had made its opening statement.

Since Maraghi soloed often throughout the set, I suspect his instrument and his tone are favorites of Lee’s, though when she named him for a “bari” solo in a subsequent tune, he’d actually been playing the far more difficult bass clarinet.

Maraghi's credentials include performances in Wynton Marsalis’s hyper-talented Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. His unusually warm and beautiful tone (not easily achieved on the bulky baritone) set the scene perfectly for Lee’s only vocal of the set, “Do You Love Me.” His intro and obligato were a concert highlight, as were Lee’s emotional singing and the song itself.

Fronting a big band is hard work. Finding gigs, traveling to them, and herding 13 or more often temperamental musicians requires substantial effort and persistence.

But when not conducting with undeniable authority, Lee can seem too fragile for the task, admitting she’d backed off on singing because she is just too nervous when facing an audience.

That nervousness had her sounding hesitant and difficult to hear as she began to sing, but once she lost herself in the emotions of “Do You Love Me,” the audience was all in, and the piece got the biggest ovation of the evening.

Every song she writes is driven by her emotional reactions to events in her personal life and the world. Those reactions are described so well in her arrangements and singing, I’d love to see her overcome unwarranted stage fright and add another vocal or two during concerts and on recordings.

But getting back to the concert:

After the opening’s blues interruptus, “Surrender” left the Basie feel even further behind with Korean rhythms and Lee’s unique ear for sounds.

When she recorded “Surrender,” she had included a Korean percussionist, so a little of her original concept was lost with a standard rhythm section, though her adept jazz drummer Mark Ferber proved a solid translator.

A majority of the night’s trumpet solos were taken by the capable Stuart Mack. He often merges Lee’s exoticisms into improvisations that would be equally effective in a Quincy Jones arrangement for Basie.

Mack can often be seen in the trumpet sections of other successful bands including the venerable Vanguard Jazz Orchestra which has performed almost every Monday night at New York’s Village Vanguard for more than 50 years.

“Deep Blue Sea” was the most conventionally beautiful arrangement on the program. It featured a couple of appropriately melodic solos. Maraghi was back again on baritone, and guitarist Alex Goodman had a rare extended solo spot.

The most playful of Lee’s selections was “Revived Mind,” a tribute to the awakenings of spring. It is perhaps her most successful integration of jazz and Korean influences. Ryan Kebele’s Dixieland-influenced trombone solo was a perfect fit.

Thirteen musicians, most of whom double or triple on other instruments, can challenge the variety of a symphony orchestra in the hands of a good arranger, and Lee’s innovations are a welcome addition to the genre. Her varied facial expressions while conducting show the pleasure she takes in hearing her inspirations from blaring trumpets to impish dancing piccolos. On this evening, an enthusiastic audience clearly shared her delight.

Crowded sell outs for two unusually original sets proved the La Jolla Music Society’s jazz concerts are a terrific addition to San Diego’s jazz community. Jihye Lee has made three recordings. I join the chorus of those who recommend them.

Photo credits Ken Jacques

Visit The Conrad website for a schedule of the La Jolla Music Society's coming jazz, classical, ballet and world music concerts. 

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