Wayne Alpern, Gotham Review

Wayne Alpern’s Gotham: A Soundtrack for the City That Never Sleeps

by Nolan DeBuke

Wayne Alpern’s Gotham is an excellent album that charts the fascinating intersection of Alpern’s writing with elements of jazz and classical music. As a composer, arranger, and scholar, Alpern has long been celebrated for his ability to blend popular idioms with sophisticated classical techniques. With this latest release, Alpern takes his fusion even further, arranging and creating a musical landscape where the familiar becomes something entirely new. In doing so, he reimagines beloved classics, pulling them through his lens composition without sacrificing the jazz sensibility that has defined much of his previous work.

The hallmark of Gotham lies in Alpern’s impressive writing and orchestration. A large ensemble of violin, brass, and woodwinds provides a depth of texture that displays Alpern’s unique approach to orchestrating his writing. This expanded color palette lets Alpern explore harmonic complexity, intricate counterpoint, and rich orchestral color. Alpern integrates classical techniques deeply into his jazz-infused arrangements, creating a compelling hybrid that honors the source material.

Alpern’s reworking of the “Batman” theme is the perfect introduction to the album’s overarching theme of fusion. He takes the heroic and playful essence of the original theme, which is inherently jazzy in its energy, and introduces his compositional grandeur with sweeping brass and reed figures. The driving rhythm section anchors the more dynamic moments, blending the boldness of 70’s style jazz with colorful and balanced orchestration. This interplay between the various instrument sections and counterpoints creates a vivid atmosphere that transforms the superhero motif. The spoken word section brings a contemporary flair to the mix.

The jazz standard, “Blue Room,” undergoes a remarkable transformation here. The buzzing voicings and counterpoint in different sections add energy to the joyful environment, making this arrangement feel breezy and stimulating. Alpern’s harmonic expansions give the piece richness, turning a relatively simple melody into something lush and nuanced. The hard-swinging trumpet solo is supported by well-written backgrounds. Alpern’s shout chorus carries his distinct style of melody and orchestrative colors, with the brass injecting moments of intensity. Andrew Ezrin delivers a stirring piano solo.

“Desafinado” finds Alpern taking Jobim’s bossa nova classic and finding its romantic harmonic center. While the bossa nova rhythm remains intact, Alpern introduces robust voicings that dramatically deepen the harmonic landscape, giving the piece a grandiose quality. The guitar solo by Kevin Ramessar adds a lush layer to the flow, while Alpern’s shout chorus colors with winds muted brass counterpoint displays his sense of balance and control. It’s a refreshing reinvention that blends the bossa nova’s characteristic rhythms with writing the surprises and enthralls with its developments.

Alpern’s reimagining of “Norwegian Wood” is a breathtaking transformation of the Beatles classic. While the melody remains at the song’s core, Alpern expands the structure, adding counterpoint and layering classical choral-style passages in a way that heightens the song’s emotional weight. The combination of jazz rhythm with lush classical orchestration creates a fascinating contrast that imbues the song with new life. It’s a beautiful example of how Alpern can take something familiar and reframe it in a new context, giving listeners the pleasure of rediscovery.

Sondheim’s “Anyone Can Whistle” gets a playful and dramatic treatment in Alpern’s hands. The various instruments work together to highlight the whimsy and satire of the original, but Alpern also deepens the piece with rich harmonic choices that expand on the playful nature of the melody. The jazz rhythms introduce a sense of unpredictability, while the classical textures lend an air of drama to the whimsical tune, showcasing Alpern’s ability to blend humor with sophistication.

Alpern’s arrangement of the “Spartacus Love Theme” transforms the original with the brass, reed, and string working in tandem to release Alpern’s lush romanticism found in this jazz waltz. , while the jazz rhythm section provides an undercurrent of emotional intensity. The progression of each section is developed in a manner that makes each subsequent section feel more expansive and emotionally resonant. This track exemplifies Alpern’s ability to merge jazz and classical elements without sacrificing the emotional core of the original.

The Beatles’ “Lady Madonna” features John Patitucci’s robust basslines, anchoring a feel that is grounded in the original but now taking on the augmented soulful character of Alpern’s arrangement. The catchy melody is given a fresh, jazzy spin. The harmonic movement of the ensemble voices forms an interplay of harmony and melody. The hand-clap rhythms bring energy and drive. Traveling further in the arrangement, Alpern’s writing deepens the emotional impact of the music with his writing for the ensemble. Layering multiple parts in a developmental manner, Alpern’s shout chorus essentially lasts the last third of the song. His jazz meets rock writing provides the foundation for the building textures to unfold to a powerful ending.

Alpern’s Gotham is a dazzling display of compositional skill, where jazz and classical writing techniques coexist to intertwine with one another. The arrangements give us a familiar tune to hear Alpern’s fresh perspective on beloved songs for our enjoyment. This album marks a deeper experience in Alpern’s work, showcasing his approach to a large ensemble and the integration of his vast influences into the jazz idiom. Gotham reflects Wayne Alpern’s vision of the power of fusion.