The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and baritone saxophonist, composer, and arranger Ryan Middagh. Tenor Madness, his new album with the Ryan Middagh Orchestra, will be released 10 January via Ear Up Records.
The album features alto saxophonists Alex Graham and Jovan Quallo; tenor saxophonists Jeff Coffin, Don Aliquo, and Joel Frahm; tenor and alto saxophonist Kevin Shinskie; and Middagh and Jimmy Bowland on baritone saxophone.
The Ryan Middagh Orchestra comprises trumpeters Steve Patrick, Tyler Jaeger, Jeff Bailey, and Olivia Achcet; bass trombonists Martin McCain and Liam Barron; guitarist Lindsey Miller; pianist Pat Coil; bassist Jake Jezioro; and drummer Marc Widenhofer. Vocalist Jenna McLean appears on ‘Waiter, Make Mine Blues.‘ Links to purchase the album, and to Middagh’s website, can be found at the end of this article.
For some time, Ryan Middagh happily plugged away as a performer and arranger in the Nashville jazz scene. This naturally led him to Jeff Coffin, the brilliant saxophonist, composer and arranger, and member of Dave Matthews Band.
Coffin, as it happens, laid the law on him.
“He was like, ‘It’s time to start a band. You’ve arranged all these charts for me for years. You’re arranging for a lot of other people, and doing a lot of commissions. So, it’s time to start your own band,’” Middagh relates. “He kind of put the hammer down on it.”
Find out how that transpired below.
UK Jazz News: Jeff Coffin’s music introduced me to your world. What should those unaware know about the Nashville jazz scene?
Ryan Middagh: The Nashville jazz scene is ever growing. It’s constantly becoming more active, more inclusive, more diverse. Honestly, it’s like a big umbrella – a family, with a bunch of different styles of jazz.
You have some of the really straight-ahead cats in town. But then you have people like Jeff, who reach into all different corners of the jazz world, and the music world [in general].
I mean, it’s Music City. There are a ton of musicians here. I know the reputation is country music, but we have all sorts of music here. Especially being a big band leader, I’m very fortunate that I have such excellent and awesome musicians to work with.
Mine is one of about six active big bands on the scene right now, and a lot of them are writer-centric. Some are more community-centric, or organisationally focussed. But lots of people are out there playing shows, and people are going to the shows, which is awesome. We just sold out my last concert at the Nashville Jazz Workshop. More and more people are getting into it.
It’s a really good community, and I think Jeff is a great example of someone who has vitalised that community through a bunch of different avenues. But a lot of people are making it happen.
UKJN: What’s it like in such a niche, localised community? Any competitiveness?
RM: It’s not competitive. When I think of the other bandleaders in town, we’re all using a similar pool of musicians, and it’s a very supportive community. We all just want to make this music.
UKJN: Any young lions on the scene you’re particularly excited about?
RM: So many of them. There’s a former student of mine, David Rodgers: he’s now the artistic and executive director of the Nashville Jazz Workshop. He’s a brilliant piano player, and a really wonderful musician, arranger, and bandleader.
There’s a gentleman who I just hired on our jazz faculty here, a bass player named Rob Linton. He’s out playing with a ton of folks, touring. He is really something, and I’m excited to see what he does.
I’m Director of Jazz Studies at Vanderbilt University, so I see these young lions coming through all the time. Within my programme, I’m seeing all these cats who are 17, 18 years old, who are playing at an incredible level.
The short answer is: there are too many on the list. Because people are constantly moving to Nashville, whether it’s a young lion or some of the more established folks.
I think of people like [trombonist] Bob McChesney, who moved here from LA. Or [saxophonist] Joel Frahm, who moved from New York down here, but has since moved to Texas.
And then, people coming fresh out of college: people who go to NEC, or some of the New York schools, they just come here right after graduation and try to make it work.
UKJN: The tradition displayed on Tenor Madness dates back to the Four Brothers and beyond. Talk about elevating and highlighting the tenor saxophone. Have you ever done anything conceptual like this?
RM: No. As far as recording my own stuff, I’m kind of late to the game. I’ve really been a supporter of other people’s music, especially as an arranger. I’ve probably been arranging for Jeff Coffin for about 17 years now, doing a lot of his big band work – I’m still working on a lot of that.
This is only my second big band album, and my third album, total. We just have so many great saxophone players here in Nashville; that’s what I really wanted to highlight.
A lot of [the compositions on the album] are collaborative endeavours. ‘Wired’ is a piece by our lead alto saxophonist, Alex Graham. I arranged it for him for a specific conference. It goes back to our community-centric aspect.
Jeff plays lead tenor in the band, and that was [reflected] in the way that I wrote. What’s cool about the saxophone players featured on this album is that they all have a completely different approach to the instrument. I think of the tenor battle between Jeff and Don Aliquo: completely different approaches. Or the tenor battle between Jeff and Joel Frahm.
Being able to feature their unique musical voices, within the structure of a big band, was just a lot of fun to put together.
