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| 4.060 Ft
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| 1. | Boy In The Boat
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| 2. | Cry Baby Cry
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| 3. | Signed, Sealed, Delivered
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| 4. | Happy Hour Blues
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| 5. | Darling Nikki
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| 6. | Pennies From Heaven
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| 7. | Ripple
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| 8. | Toby
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| 9. | Soul Serenade
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| 10. | We Are MTO
iTunes exclusive
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| 11. | Cry Baby Cry
radio edit
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Jazz / Modern Big Band; Progressive Big Band; Experimental Big Band; Modern Creative
Steven Bernstein - trumpet
Matt Munisteri - guitar, banjo & vocals
Charlie Burnham - violin
Clark Gayton - trombone
Doug Wieselman - clarinet & tenor saxophone
Peter Apfelbaum - tenor & soprano saxophone
Eric Lawrence - baritone and soprano saxophone
Ben Allison - bass
Ben Perowsky - drums
Steven Bernstein, who also fronts the incredibly popular band Sex Mob, was inspired to form MTO while working on the score to the Robert Altman film, Kansas City. While studying for the project, Bernstein immersed himself in the music of 1920s' territory bands from Kansas City and other points in the Midwest. These "territory" ensembles would tour regionally, playing cafes, ballrooms and vaudeville shows. The music had only survived via scratchy 78 recordings. The Kansas City units were especially known for their loose, bluesy performances. Their job was to get the party started and the dancers on the floor. The big bands may have made the headlines, but the territory bands disseminated the "sound."
"I was getting really fascinated with this music and wondering what would happen if you played this music live again? Because any version of this music that we have is like a three-minute bad recording," states Bernstein. "We know what it looks like because there's all these great pictures of guys in tuxedoes holding their instruments. But it's almost like there's more pictures of the music than there are recorded documents of the music. I wanted to bring this music back to life."
MTO made its debut at Tonic, the downtown NYC improvisational music mecca, at a midnight set in 1999. Steve Bernstein had previously configured the band, but it was ultimately an unrehearsed gig. It was an approach that stuck. To this day, the band has still yet to have an "official" rehearsal. Instead they're presented the arrangements by Bernstein prior to the show and simply go for it onstage in front of audiences. Judging by how the popularity of their "live" appearances has grown, it's working. The Tonic shows soon expanded to include regular appearances at midtown's The Jazz Standard and, subsequently, led to the recording of MTO Volume 1 and their signing with Sunnyside Records.
Reviewed in the live setting by The Village Voice, MTO was declared: "a band that interprets ancient jazz as an old-time religion, only without the solemnity." On their album debut, they fully live up to such praise by launching the date with the sexually-charged, big-band rave up, "Boy In The Boat." A few cuts later, MTO applies the "ancient jazz" concept to the modern; a reading of Prince's "Darling Nikki," which opens with a slinky fiddle-picked line by Burnham that slowly grows to a full-band march. His Purple Majesty would be proud. In fact, so would a number of more contemporary artists whose work Bernstein and company filter through their "territory orchestra" sieve, including The Beatles "Cry Baby Cry," The Grateful Dead's "Ripple" and - one of the album's most striking moments - an interpretation of Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" with special guest Doug Wamble adding inspired vocals and stinging slide guitar licks. MTO Volume 1 is rounded out by Bennie Moten's "Toby," a more period proper piece, yet no less raucous with its freewheeling improvisations. They conclude with a proper dose of MTO subversiveness via a sauntering, burlesque-inspired reading of the King Curtis evergreen "Soul Serenade."
"It's all one music. It's all one American music," declares Bernstein. "I made Sly Stone sound like an early Bennie Moten thing, and I did it just by the way the guys were phrasing and it was not that different than Sly's arrangement. It's just having a clarinet and a trombone playing with a certain attitude - this feeling - and you realize it's all just one music."
Reviews:
Prince can heat up a Detroit night with his slippery tongue and quivering guitar vamps. Trumpet player Steven Bernstein can do as much for a New York jazz club with his slide trumpet and an eight-piece band. On one of his Monday night residency performances last month at the Jazz Standard, Bernstein's group the Millennial Territory Orchestra covered "Darling Nikki". Prince's lithe, grinding seductress from the hotel lobby vanished. In her place strolled in a burlesque queen from the ?30s. She made you shudder with a flash of her garter. That's what happens when Bernstein decides a melody's strong enough for one of his bands. You think something can't get any sexier. Add seductively sloppy strings and brass and an audience can barely handle itself.
---- All About Jazz, Celeste Sutherland
MTO built considerable buzz as an innovative anachronism...a vision of and early-'30s territory band transported into 21st century New York.
--- Jason Koransky, Downbeat, August 2006read the full article
MTO vol.1 is a heady romp through 20th century popular music. It's an enchanting vision of what jazz might sound like if it had remained America's youth music.
--- David French, Downbeat, October 2006
Trumpeter Steven Bernstein's Millenial Territory orchestra is inspired by the leader hearing some of the exciting late '20s and early '30s recordings of territory bands. While some of the music performed by his nonet is taken from that early period, including "Boy In the Boat," "Happy Hour Blues" and "Toby," they alternate with originals that are sometimes only loosely connected to the style. Even the revivals of vintage songs include adventurous solos and plenty of surprises, so MTO, Vol. 1 is more of a tribute than a re-creation. The musicians all show versatility, trombonist Clark Gayton takes particularly impressive solos, and the overall, the music is quite fun. Easily recommended to fans of the Mingus Big Band and other somewhat riotous ensembles.
---Scott Yanow, allmusic
Steven Bernstein is a trumpeter/slide trumpeter, bandleader, arranger, and composer who lives outside of musical convention. He has recently released three critically acclaimed CDs - Diaspora Soul, Diaspora Blues (featuring the SamRivers trio), and his most recent, Diaspora Hollywood. All three are on John Zorn's Tzadik label.
His band Sex Mob has been together 10 years touring the world, won numerous awards, and has had their music featured on MTV, Saturday Night Live and NPR. Sexotica, recorded for Thirsty Ear's Blue series, and produced by Good and Evil, will be released in June. Their last recording, Dime Grind Palace (Ropeadope), features legendary trombonist Roswell Rudd.
His 9 piece ensemble the Millennial Territory Orchestra recently completed a year and half long residency at the Jazz Standard in NYC, and has just completed their first recording. Baby Loves Jazz, produced and arranged by Mr. Bernstein, and featuring vocalists Sharon Jones and Babi Floyd, along with keyboard master John Medeski. The disc will be released in August by Verve records - it accompanies a book by Andy (Ropeadope) Hurwitz.
Bernstein was the musical director for I'm Your Man, a documentary on Leonard Cohen that focuses on a tribute concert held at the Sydney Opera house, it will be released by Lions Gate films in spring 2006.
He recently filmed an hour long segment for "Solos", a Canadian Television program featuring solo performances by musicians including Andrew Hill, Joe Lovano, and John Scofield. Bernstein was also the subject of a recent feature entitled "Creative Spaces" on NPR's "All Things Considered", and was interviewed by Terry Gross in 2002.
Since November 2004 Bernstein has been a member of the Levon Helm band, playing at the Midnight Rambles in Levon's home in Woodstock. Bernstein wrote the horn arrangments for Bill Frissel's Grammy winning 2004 recording Unspeakable, as well as for artists including Lou Reed, Jessie Harris, Shivaree, Elton John, the Kronos Quartet and the Bang On a Can All Stars.
In 1992, musical iconoclast Hal Willner produced the debut CD by Spanish Fly, a cooperative trio with Bernstein, slide guitarist Dave Tronzo and tubaist Marcus Rojas, and they have been collaborating ever since.
Bernstein has musical directed many Hal Willner projects, including tributes to Leonard Cohen, Doc Pomus, and Harold Arlen, and created the music for Robert Altman's film Kansas City. He was also the musical director for the touring version of the Kansas City band, which included David "Fathead" Newman, Don Byron, James Carter, Christian McBride, and Nicholas Payton.
During his 10 years as a member of John Lurie's Lounge Lizards he arranged the music for Get Shorty, Clay Pigeons, Fishing With John and many more film, television and commercial projects with Mr. Lurie.
For composer/Foetus mastermind Jim Thirwell, Bernstein arranged Steroid Maximus to be performed live by a 19 piece ensemble.
As a composer he has scored the documentaries Keep the River On Your Right and Balloonhat, dance pieces for Alvin Ailey, Body Vox, the Donald Byrd Dance Company, the Flying Karamazov Brothers and the San Francisco Ballet, and commercial jingles.
Bernstein has played trumpet with a diverse group of artists including Marianne Faithfull, Linda Ronstadt, David Murray, David Berger, Digable Planets, Sting, Medeski Martin and Wood, Courtney Love, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Don Byron and Marvin Pontiac. Awards include Downbeat critics poll 2004 (#1 arranger TDWR, #2 Big Band - Millennial Territory Orchestra), Jazz Journalists Association 2003 (Rare Brass) andDownbeat Critics Poll 2002 (Sex Mob #1 Beyond Group, #1 acoustic Jazz Group TDWR)
News
Bernstein Deals Four Aces
In the music world, there is no waiting for the season to conclude, as evidenced by upstate New York- based trumpeter/arranger Steve Bernstein who is taking free agency to a whole new level with four major recording projects all hitting within a week of each other.
---Dan Ouellette, Billboard, July 2006 read the full article
Steve Bernstein selected as DownBeat ' Rising Star Arranger of the Year
Steven Bernstein hears almost infinite musical possibilities for his nine-piece Millennial Territory Orchestra (MTO)...
--- Jason Douglas, DownBeat-2006 read the full article
Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra at Jazz Standards
THU - SAT, FEBRUARY 7 - 9
"Reliably rowdy and often brilliant," (Ben Ratliff, The New York Times),
This exciting nonet features some of Gotham's most original musical voices-all wicked and well-traveled improvisers who tear into and savor Steven Bernstein's arrangements like the tangiest Kansas City barbecue. |
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