MICHAEL DEASE
A play on the ’60s sci-fi show Lost in Space, Michael Dease’s Found in Space: The Music of Gregg Hill is the acclaimed trombonist/saxophonist’s second outing to feature the compelling compositions of Michigan’s Gregg Hill. To those outside the Great Lakes State, it is something of a mystery that the 78-year-old Hill, an obscure presence on the national music scene, has managed to garner such a fervent following. Converts include bassist-educator Rodney Whitaker, who has released three albums dedicated to Hill’s music, and guitarist Randy Napoleon (two volumes of Hill music), not to mention Dease himself, whose Found in Space was preceded by The Other Shoe in 2023.
Gregg Hill’s work bears a resemblance to Frank Zappa’s more ambitious large ensemble works like The Grand Wazoo, in that his tunes easily morph from 20th-century classical to jazz to rock to avant-garde and back again. These structured, contrapuntal pieces unfold in sections with chamber-like intricacy. But like Zappa, Hill also leaves room for stretching, with solo sections allowing for maximum exploration.
Dease takes full advantage of that blowing aspect with his band of stellar soloists, including Rudresh Mahanthappa, Virginia MacDonald, Sharel Cassity, Jason Hainsworth, Matt White, Nanami Haruta, Bill Cunliffe, Katie Thiroux, Colleen Clark and Dease himself alternating between trombone and baritone sax. The leader’s wife, percussionist Gwendolyn Dease adds to the Zappa-esque flavor of this music on marimba, recalling the contributions that Ruth Underwood made to FZ’s bands of the late ’60s and early ’70s.
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