1. New Horizons
2. Swing Open
3. Without You
4. Bottom End Shuffle
5. A Problem with the Sun
6. Pan-Fried Doodles
7. Goodnight Story
8. No Harm No Foul
9. America the Beautiful
Ryan Haines – Tenor and bass trombones
Lucas Munce, Andy Axelrad – Alto sax and flute
Tedd Baker, Dave Stump – Tenor sax and flute
Doug Morgan – Baritone sax and flute
Brian MacDonald, Kevin Burns, Rich Sigler,
Tim Leahey – Trumpet and flugelhorn
Jeff Martin, Ben Patterson – Tenor trombone
Todd Hanson – Bass trombone
Jim Roberts – Guitar
Tony Nalker - Piano
Paul Henry – Bass
Steve Fidyk – Drums
Ryan Haines is a new name
to me and, I suspect to most of our readers,
but this is only his second album. His first,
To the Sky, was released five years
ago on the same label, but this CD was recorded
with a new band made up from musicians living
around Washington DC – most of whose names
will also be unfamiliar.
Ryan Haines is a powerful
trombonist and he features himself on seven
of the nine tracks. He’s undoubtedly a fine
soloist, able to negotiate the trombone with
ease at fast tempos and capable of lyricism
in such ballads as Goodnight Story.
Haines also wrote all but one of the tunes
– the exception being the closing America
the Beautiful, which certainly packs a
punch (and the opening bars sound remarkably
like the "Black Adder" television
theme!). In fact most tracks exhibit a powerhouse
approach to big-band arranging.
I would question the album’s
title, as the band hardly explores new horizons.
Instead, Ryan Haines is content to follow
traditional methods of arranging for big bands.
For example, nearly every solo is accompanied
by section figures which sometimes get in
the way of the soloist. So there’s nothing
wrong with this album – and the recorded sound
is exemplary – but there’s nothing very cutting-edge
about it either.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Sea Breeze SBJ 2138 
