The Thompson Fields

The Thompson Fields

  • Walking by Flashlight (band version)
  • The Monarch and The Milkweed
  • Arbiters of Evolution
  • The Thompson Fields
  • Home
  • Nimbus
  • A Potter's Song
  • Lembranca

Reviews

GRAMMY AWARD WINNERBest Large Jazz Ensemble Recording

“... this magnificent, nature-drunk masterpiece, one of the great jazz records period, not just one of the great recent jazz records.”
THE BUFFALO NEWS – Jeff Simon

"This marriage of sounds, words and images is ultimately breathtaking, a testament not simply to the hipness of jazz but to the uplifting and sustaining powers of art."
OTTAWA CITIZEN – Peter Hum

"The Thompson Fields breaks that spell with an extravagant show of her strengths: precise, expressive harmony; ribbons of diaphanous texture; a rhythmic momentum that doesn’t feel propulsive so much as wind-borne. Her new pieces, inspired by various ecological and personal epiphanies, stands alongside the best of her previous work, which is saying something."
NEW YORK TIMES – NATE CHINEN

"The Thompson Fields breaks through to a new level. It's her most ambitious recording, and her most accomplished; it places her in the pantheon of big-band composer-leaders, just below Ellington, Strayhorn, and Gil Evans at his very best; it's a masterpiece"
STEREOPHILE – Fred Kaplan

The Thompson Fields (*****five stars)
"...when the artistic offerings competing for our entertainment dollars and attention are vast compared to the days of five television channels and a handful of records labels, one artist has risen—in terms of talent and the beauty and perfection of her recent output—to an Ellington-ian level: Composer/arranger Maria Schneider."
– ALL ABOUT JAZZ – Dan McClenaghan

The Thompson Fields:  "Beyond the searching solos and high virtuosity both on and off the paper, it’s the love poured into The Thompson Fields that flows back out of the speakers and makes it such an unusually moving work of art. It captures Schneider ’s artistic vision unlike anything else in her catalogue."
– THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD – David R. Adler

The Thompson Fields ***** "Beyond categorization….simply sublime...You don’t listen to CDs from the Maria Schneider [Orchestra]. You “experience” them."
– AUDIOPHILE AUDITION – JE

"Maria Schneider is a national treasure."
– NPR

 

Credits

Steve Wilson - alto/soprano/clarinet/flute/alto flute
Dave Pietro - alto/clarinet/piccolo/flute/alto flute/bass flute
Rich Perry - tenor/flute
Donny McCaslin - tenor/clarinet
Scott Robinson - baritone/clarinet/bass clarinet
Tony Kadleck - trumpet/flügelhorn
Greg Gisbert - trumpet/flügelhorn
Augie Haas - trumpet/flügelhorn
Mike Rodriguez - trumpet/flügelhorn
Keith O'Quinn - trombone
Ryan Keberle - trombone
Marshall Gilkes - trombone
George Flynn - bass trombone/contrabass trombone
Gary Versace - accordion
Lage Lund - guitar
Frank Kimbrough - piano
Jay Anderson - bass
Clarence Penn - drums
Rogerio Boccato - percussion

All compositions by Maria Schneider
Produced by Maria Schneider and Ryan Truesdell
Recorded at Avatar Studios, Room C, New York August 26-30, 2014
Engineered by Brian Montgomery
Assisted by Thom Beemer and Tyler Hartman
Mixed by Brian Montgomery, Maria Schneider, and Ryan Truesdell
Mastered by Gene Paul at G&J Audio

All album photos taken by Briene Lermitte, August 11-13, 2014