Steve Lands is an American trumpeter based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Throughout his almost twenty-year career, he has established himself as one of the most versatile instrumentialists of his generation, touring and recording with such names as Grammy-winner PJ Morton, chart-topping rock band Maroon 5, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Swiss pianist and composer Florian Favre, the Black Keys, and playing in big bands with Ellis, Jason, Branford, and Delfeayo Marsalis.
He also leads his own bands and projects, with his latest, Rearranging the Planets, being an album that reimagines the astrological premise and musical themes from Gustav Holst’s seven-movement orchestral suite The Planets. Released last month, it features a 13-piece all-star lineup of fellow artists from the New Orleans and Louisiana scenes.
UKJazz News: In your liner notes, you mention Gustav Holst’s fascination with astrology and how it inspired your album Rearranging the Planets. Does your own interest in astrology predate this project?
Steve Lands: Not really, actually. I’m not a subscriber to astrology, but it’s at least entertaining to talk about. Walk up to a random person and ask them their sign, and they usually have something to say about it. What happens next can be very fun and unexpected. The most common thing that happens is I’ll ask someone their sign, they tell me it, then when they ask me what mine is, I tell them, “I’m a Leo, but I don’t so much believe in astrology.” The response often enough is, “Ah, typical.” That always tickles me to no end.
UKJN: From your perspective as an admirer of Holst’s The Planets, do you have one or two favourite movements that particularly capture their astrological associations?
SL: Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity, is my favorite full piece from top to bottom. In astrology, it supposedly represents optimism, luck, and crowning achievements in love and life. That pomp, that celebratory energy, is wonderfully captured throughout that part of the suite. Also, Neptune, the Mystic. Neptune in astrology is dreamy, intuitive, and creative. The choral part towards the end of Neptune, the Mystic is one of the most magical and mystical-sounding things I’ve ever heard. I had goosebumps the first time I listened to it.
UKJN: The themes and arrangements on Rearranging the Planets are quite distinct from Holst’s. What, if any, musical elements did you borrow from his suite?
SL: Ah, that changes from piece to piece. Some of them are more tucked away than others. 2 examples:
From Mars, the Bringer of War, I only took that 5/4 rhythm, and it became Pax Rumpiter. I thought it would be cool to have our drummer and percussionist have a trading battle. Drums and War and all that. It felt like an apt translation.
Venus, the Bringer of Peace became Amor/ Votum, and I took a part from the original, namely the first minute and a half where the French horn has the main line. I gave that to the Alto saxophone and changed or rearranged what happened around it a bit.
UKJN: You gave new titles to the seven planet subjects – can you elaborate on some of the meanings behind those?
SL: They’re Latin phrases (for the most part) relating to the original titles of the pieces. I thought it would be cute to be forthright about the magic spells these songs were casting. There are little ways they relate to each other as well.
To go back to Amor/ Votum, it was meant to be about Love / Desire. The first set of words were about a very somber and spiritual love, while the ending was meant to be more carnal, so to speak. The next song is Pax Rumpiter, which was Mars, the Bringer of War and translates to Peace is Broken / Ruptured. That’s a reference to the original title of the previous song, Venus, the Bringer of Peace. There are a few more like that, but I’ll stop there for now.
UKJN: You maintain the same order of planets as Holst, with the only exception being that you switch the counterpart movements to Mars (“Pax Rumpitur”) and Mercury (“Nova Claritas”) around, so that the latter forms the opening tracks on Rearranging the Planets. What is the story behind that decision?
SL: I was Rearranging the Planets in every way. I wanted to go down the Solar System, exactly. Mercury down to Neptune. I wanted nature to dictate the flow of my work.
UKJN: What is the significance behind the words intermittently spoken by vocalist Amber René throughout the album?
SL: They pertain to the subjects of each piece. I wanted some words to set the scene of the music. OR vice-versa. Casting spells is a big point of this work.
I grew up in the southern United States and was first exposed to music through the southern black church, specifically the denomination of the Church of God in Christ, or COGIC for short. While I’m far from devout in any way, those memories still live in my mind.
One thing about COGIC services is that they are long (like 3 to 4 hours long every Sunday at least) and filled with music from almost top to bottom, specifically stopping pretty much only from the beginning of sermons. The lead accompanist whether they be on organ or the piano would play obviously during Praise and worship which is when the service had a specific allotted time for literal psalms and songs praising and thanking God, but also while people were praying, giving testimonies (which would happen multiple times a service), during scripture readings, during the offering, during the call to discipleship, during the benediction, and even after just for fun. Expression accompanied by music that would bolster the words you heard so they felt and sounded as if they had truly been delivered from on high. I wanted to simulate that a bit with this. Context from one point to another.
UKJN: Most of the artists featured alongside you here are stalwarts of the Louisiana scene, but may be unfamiliar to our readers. Do you work with them often?
SL: Yes, I’ve worked on and off with the folks on the album for like 2 decades now. Most of the people in the group have their own bands in which most of us are members. Max Moran (bass) has Neospectric and another group called The Bridge Trio, Alfred Jordan (drums) has Creatives United, Gladney (tenor sax), Amber Renè (vocals), Shea Pierre (keyboards) and Amari Ansari (alto sax) lead their own bands, and John Maestas (guitar) has an alter ego called Juan Tigre. Not to mention all of us at different points supporting great artists together. Gladney, Shea, Alfred, and I are in multiple different projects together, supporting artists like Joe Dyson, Amina Scott, and French bassist Selénè Saint Aimé. Amari, Gladney, and I used to play in a big band led by Delfeayo Marsalis. The list goes on, truly.
UKJN: You received support from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and the New Orleans Museum of Art. What exact roles did they play in helping you realise this project?
SL: The piece debuted at the New Orleans Museum of Art in February 2022. They provided the funds and space through a Creative Cohort that launched the year prior in an attempt to get more local artists to present something in the walls of the museum, which they hadn’t done much of in the past or since, as far as I know. This piece is a big production, and having the space to bring it to reality is not easy to come by.
The Jazz and Heritage Foundation offers a semi-annual grant to artists for recording new projects. I applied a couple of years ago to get some funding to record, and now it lives and it’s, in part, thanks to their contribution.
UKJN: You achieve an incredibly high level of production on the album that, I imagine, could be hard to recapture in a live setting. How was it performing this music live?
SL: There’s a YouTube video of the opening night of Rearranging the Planets at NOMA. Performing it live feels like nothing less than a blessing. People leave the performance floating, some crying, some refreshed. I’ve been told it’s an otherworldly experience.
UKJN: Do you have any upcoming live performances with this project?
SL: I released the record on the same day I performed it at the 2025 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and am still floating down from that, but I hope to perform it again in the fall/winter of 2025. The members of the band are all off doing things for the summer. Some of us are on tour, some of us are on vacation, some of us are developing other projects, and some of us are doing all three.
UKJN: Is there anything else you would like people to know about Rearranging the Planets before they listen to it?
SL: Try and listen to it in the morning before you check your phone or at night with a drink. I truly hope the listeners enjoy it. It’s for y’all.
Check it out on my Bandcamp page (linked below), though it is streaming everywhere except Spotify right now. A very limited number of double vinyls are being made of it as we speak. Email me at thestevelands@gmail.com or hit me up @thestevelands on Instagram if you want one, and we’ll get it to you when it’s released.
Rearranging the Planets was released on 2 May 2025.
Full lineup and credits:
Stephen Lands – Trumpet
Shea Pierre – Piano/ Keyboards/ Organ
John Maestas – Guitar/ FX
Amari Ansari – Alto Saxophone/ Baritone Saxophone/ Flute
Gladney – Tenor Saxophone/ Aerophone/ Tambourine (Pax Rumpitur)
Rex Gregory – Bass Clarinet (Incantatio)
Alfred Jordan Jr – Drums/ Pads/ Percussion
Xavier Molina – Percussion/ Vocals
Max Moran – Upright Bass/ Electric Bass/ Synth Bass
Amber René – Words/ Vocals
Meghan Stewart – Vocals
Sélène Saint-Aimé – Vocals
Randy Crafton – Percussion (Pax Rumpitur)
Graemme Brown – Mastering
Noe Cugny – Cover Art Photography
Sasha Solodukhina – Art design
Kami Farrah Lenain – Photography
Francis Wong – Videography/ Paintings
Recorded by Randy Crafton at Marigny Studios in February and April 2023.
Mixed by RnR Audio (Randy Crafton and Ray Dillard)
Mastered by Graemme Brown at Zen Mastering.
