Jim McNeely:
"The Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw (JOC) is one of the world’s great jazz ensembles. I’ve known some of these musicians since the late ‘90’s. But I’d never worked with the whole JOC until January 2020, in a project with Joshua Redman. It was great to hear the band up close and get to know the individual soloists. But a month later COVID turned the world upside-down. So I hunkered down in my home studio and resolved to write music on a daily basis. I began to jot down ideas and develop them. With no deadlines, no project, the goal was to do something every day, allowing the ideas to ferment and grow on their own.

Then Juan Martinez, JOC artistic director (and baritone saxo- phonist), emailed me. He proposed that I write a CD’s worth of music for the band, featuring all their soloists. Several Zoom meetings with Juan and drummer Martijn Vink ensued. Martijn put together a “composer’s guide” to the JOC. It listed all the players in the band, and their musical “zones”. Informed by this, I started to dive into the ma- terial. Writing for these musicians. After many more months of Zoom rehearsals (ugh!), scheduling delays, and even more Zoom (ugh!) we got into the studio in Hilversum for three intense days last November.