Trombonist and arranger Mike Dease appears as special guest on The WAITIKI 7‘s debut album, Adventures in Paradise. Dease puts his arranging chops to use with a beautiful version of the Duke Ellington tune, “Mood Indigo.” In addition to his playing on that tune, jazz trombone connoisseurs will dig the solos he trades with Tim Mayer (sax) on “Totem Pole” and the avant-garde approach he takes on “Octopus Menagerie.”

Bio

Jazz Legacy Productions recording artist Michael Dease is among the front wave of young jazz musicians dedicated to creating a personal and expressive “voice” while preserving the integrity of jazz music. Dease has toured the world as a performer, composer, arranger and educator receiving high praise from audiences and critics alike. His trombone playing speaks of many influences, weaving intricate, exciting lines towards pretty notes with an enchanting tone, and has been hailed by jazz legend Curtis Fuller as “absolutely amazing”. Dease has received the International Trombone Association’s Frank Rosolino Award, J.J. Johnson Prize and the Kai Winding jazz ensemble trophy. He was named a 2004 Yamaha Young Performing Artist, earned a Best Jazz Instrumentalist distinction from the June 2004 edition of DOWNBEAT magazine and received the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award in 2007 & 2008.

Holding the B.Mus and M.Mus degrees from The Juilliard School’s ground-breaking Institute of Jazz Studies, Dease is a member of the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Star Big Band and has engaged in an exciting sideman and solo career with performances from Alaska to Helsinki, Finland. Dease is formerly a member of the Illinois Jacquet Big Band, whose latest season began with a tour celebrating Jacquet’s 81st birthday to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and culminating with his record 17th featured appearance at the Midsummer’s Night Swing series at New York City’s Lincoln Center. Dease’s extensive performance roster has included gigs with Paul Simon, Alicia Keys, Luis Miguel, Wycliffe Gordon, Wynton Marsalis, Junior Mance and his Trio, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Jimmy Heath Big Band, The Juilliard Symphony, Shelly Berg and Slide Hampton, to name a few.

Michael Dease performs exclusively on Michael Rath Trombones.

The W7′s Guiding Principles of Authentic Exotica Performance Practice

1. Everything played live. Whether the score calls for a xylophone or a Tibetan cup gong, all sounds are made live, by real musicians on real instruments. No computers on stage or background tracks needed.
2. Bird and animal calls voiced by humans! When it comes to bird and animal calls, no synthesizers or recorded samples are used. All calls are made live—by members of the band.
3. Tasty improvisation does the music good. Our music is neither so strictly scored that it negates or hampers improv; nor is every tune a improv free-for-all.
4. Compositions and arrangements are done specifically for us and by us. W7 is a one-of-a-kind group—one whose members bridge many of the individual genres, cultures, and values reflected by exotica. Thus, it’s fitting that we do all of our composing and arranging in-house, and specifically for our ensemble: no off-the-shelf arrangements or head charts.
5. It’s about the music. We make discrete choices regarding special instrument use, groove, improvisational style, etc. depending on what each song is about. Not how many instruments are at our disposal.

Philosophy

A note from bandleader Randy Wong

I see myself as a facilitator moreso than as a ‘bandleader’ in the traditional sense of that word. I am proud that my colleagues in W7 have been able to build their own unique vocabularies for what exotica music is, because they have the freedom to integrate their own musical ideas. Our performance practice is itself an aesthetic response to an emergent base of inquiry questions:

What was it like to see Denny’s or Lyman’s bands perform live?

To what extent did improvisation play into their performances?

How did the context of the venue and audience affect what tunes they chose and how they performed?

To what extent did they develop a collective conscience of ‘what’ is exotic?

Finally, how do we achieve a balance between articulating these questions and artistic transparency?

Beyond the music-specific aspects of its performance, WAITIKI’s overall portrayal of the tiki pop culture plays an active and dynamic role in how people perceive our music; it helps us to articulate the differences between what exotica music (and the related tiki craze) is and isn’t.

—Randy Wong, bandleader, The WAITIKI 7