A composer and cellist who’s honed a singular synthesis of composition, orchestration and improvisation, Janel Leppin is best known as half of the experimental duo Janel and Anthony, which she co-leads with her husband guitarist Anthony Pirog. The chamber-jazz Ensemble Volcanic Ash materialized after years of incubation on Washington D.C.’s verdant new music, jazz and improvised music scenes. With this release, she steps forward as a bandleader in her own right, delivering a gorgeous debut brimming with singular musicians. The seven-piece group melds an illustrious array of D.C. talent into a glimmering expressive organism that surges, expands, ebbs and dances in multiple directions at once.
The powerhouse cast gets plenty of opportunities to shine, but it’s Leppin’s compositions that define the group in radiant, Technicolor splendor. Elegant and raw, persuasively logical and thrumming with emotion, her lapidary themes take shape with exquisite detail. Like with jazz’s most consequent composers, Leppin’s writing flows from the idiosyncratic voices in her ensemble, players who imbue every passage with their irrepressible personalities. As an instrumental voice she’s the first among equals, laying down expansive emotional parameters with each striking solo and cello-forward... more
credits
releases July 29, 2022
Janel Leppin – Cello, Keyboards
Luke Stewart – Bass
Kim Sator – Harp
Anthony Pirog – Guitar
Larry Ferguson – Drums
Sarah Hughes – Alto Saxophone
Brian Settles – Tenor Saxophone
Compositions by Janel Leppin.
Recorded by Mike Reina at The Brink Analog and Digital Studio, Centreville, VA on January 23, 2022.
Mixed and mastered by Mike Reina.

here have been many attempts to revisit the music of Charles Mingus ever since his death in 1979 (with several of the groups being called Mingus Dynasty), but this is by far the most successful of all the Mingus tribute albums. The 20-piece Mingus Big Band is an all-star unit comprised of mostly younger musicians who have spent several years really studying and getting inside the great bassist's music. The band's debut CD has such spirited soloists as baritonist Ronnie Cuber (who introduces "Nostalgia in Times Square" with a memorable story of his first encounter with Mingus), trumpeters Randy Brecker, Ryan Kisor, and Jack Walrath, trombonists Art Baron, Frank Lacy, and Dave Taylor, altoist Steve Slagle, tenors Chris Potter, Craig Handy, and John Stubblefield, and pianist Kenny Drew, Jr., among others. The ten Mingus compositions are all given memorable treatments, particularly "Moanin'," the witty and somewhat nutty "Don't Be Afraid, the Clown's Afraid Too," and "Weird Nightmare." The new arrangements by Sy Johnson, Jack Walrath, and Ronnie Cuber are quite crowded and very much in the spirit of Mingus. This was one of the top recordings to be released in 1994 and is essential for all serious jazz collections.

Part of the 'Master Sound Jazz Series'. Japanese reissue of the classic Columbia album originally released in 1955. DSD mastering. Packaged in a limited edition miniature LP sleeve. 10 tracks. 2000 release.