Mike Holober And Balancing Act's Two-Disc Live Recording DON'T LET GO Out Today

Pianist, composer, arranger, and educator Mike Holober and his octet Balancing Act have released their astounding latest effort, Don't Let Go today on Sunnyside Records.

Named fittingly, this Holober-led band represents the leader's own versatility as a musician and curiosity when it comes to sourcing inspiration. Holober balances his work between large ensembles and small groups, though perhaps he is most-known from large ensemble names like the WDR Big Band, the HR Big Band, and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra (whose latest work with Holober at the helm, Hiding Out, earned a 2020 GRAMMY nomination). Don't Let Go is the pianist's new and effortless venture in leading a band of a different size.

"After focusing on big band work for so long," Holober says, "Balancing Act exists to satisfy my needs to write for and lead a smaller group again and make a completely personal statement, where the fruits of the collective are matched with band leadership and personal artistic goals."

This balancing act is more than finding a medium-sized group for the leader, but also intertwining his classical and jazz impulses. Don't Let Go is a 14-part song-cycle divided into two sets - one for each of the album's two discs - recorded in October 2019 at Aaron Davis Hall on the campus of the City College of New York, where Holober has taught since 1995. Listeners should dive into the course of Don't Let Go from in sequential order, like the song-cycles of classical influences like Robert Schumann, Samuel Barber, and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

His roster is a promise for jazz-rooted improvisation, featuring Marvin Stamm (trumpet and flugelhorn), Dick Oatts (alto and soprano sax, flute), Jason Rigby (tenor sax, clarinet, bass clarinet), Mark Patterson (trombone), Mike McGuirk (bass), and Dennis Mackrel (drums). Brazilian vocalist Jamile also joins, enhancing the group's expressiveness and dynamic interplay.

Rhapsodic in nature, Don't Let Go's structure and presentation will appeal to listeners across the musical spectrum. At times it presents like classical-inspired jazz; at other times like jazz-inspired classical. That's by design. Holober formed Balancing Act in 2015, with its eponymous premiere recording landing on many jazz critics' "best of" yearly roundup lists. In 2017, Holober sought (and won) a commission from Chamber Music America's New Jazz Works program to create Don't Let Go because, as he puts it, he's drawn to "contrasting elements and ideas, mixing styles, grooves, and influences from diverse jazz and classical languages."

Part of Holober's unconventional fashion is the implementation of vocals as a frontline instrument rather than a vehicle for words; most of vocalist Jamile's brilliant talent is heard through wordless notes. Holober adds that Balancing Act is "not designed as a singer's showcase." Instead, it's a universal language. Set-one's "Four-Letter Words," "Kiss the Ground," and, especially, "A Summer Midnight's Dream" and "Morning Hope" are evocative displays of Jamile's expansive musicality. When she's not featured out front, bringing Holober-penned lyrics to life, she's not on break; whether it's scatting improvisationally or wordlessly vocalizing lines typically not meant for voice, Jamile is utilized as another piece of the octet's instrumentation, adding texture and color.

Holober says the spiritual impetus for Don't Let Go was born from his desire to "explore the concept of 'hope' in the context of current social, political, and environmental realities." This hope is manifested in the way he's chosen to present this program-pieces that are individually self-sufficient but inextricably bound to their musical companions and maximally effective, both emotionally and musically, when presented as a unit. This governing principle applies not just to the whole but to the parts themselves, the individual songs of the cycle.

"Necessary," the closer of the first set, speaks well to Holober's commitment to exposing the connection and striking the balance between the individual and the collective, with sparkling individual displays by Rigby and Patterson giving way to section playing of the highest precision.

"I Wonder," the second set's opener, continues Holober's exploration in duality and contrasts, opening with an atmospheric solo piano prologue before showcasing the rhythm section (plus Jamile) as a swaggering quartet punctuated by concentrated bursts of horn support. The horns are foregrounded once more in "You're a Long Way from Home," but it's not necessary to keep score. Whether it's Holober with a jaunty, bouncy solo ("Touch the Sky"), Oatts piercing through a bossa nova-induced reverie on soprano sax ("Letting Go"), or Jamile and Stamm trading star-turns on a melodic, theatrical ballad ("You Never Know"), every one of these talented musicians gets their just due here. The title track and closer serves as the spiritual anthem for this concert-length suite.

At once uplifting and defiantly optimistic, Don't Let Go is a necessary listen. Crafted specifically in these times and for these times and speaking to both head and heart, this song cycle lends credence to Downbeat's assessment of Holober as "one of the finest modern composer/arrangers of our time."