There are quite a few university wind ensembles that make recordings in the United States, and most of them trace their ancestry to the
Eastman Wind Ensemble from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. On this disc of music for trumpet and wind ensemble, the ensemble shows why it is still being emulated by other groups. Trumpeter
James Thompson is an Eastman faculty member, and he and the somehow inappropriately named conductor Mark Davis Scatterday lead the ensemble in an impressive display of precision musical engineering. The most enjoyable pieces are the bookends: Eric Ewazen's Danzante is based on a painting by Diego Rivera and evokes Mexican colors and rhythms, giving the Eastman percussion section plenty to do. The disc's finale, Dana Wilson's Leader, Lieder (Concerto for Trumpet) breaks the conventional formal molds of the previous pieces, modulating the relationship between soloist and ensemble. Leader, Lieder is the album's most adventurous and challenging work, but it reveals no slackening in the musicians' concentration. Wind players from high school on up will find technical and musical inspiration in the sounds on this disc.