Staring down the logistical reality of creating and self-releasing a big band record is enough to deter even the most steadfast of us. From the creative side (composing/arranging a set of music that works together to provide a clear and satisfying narrative and designing the visual aesthetic of the record) to the administrative side (the logistics of staffing the ensemble, booking the rehearsal space/recording studio, hiring the engineers, etc.) to the final boss fight of the project’s financial burden, there is no question that those of us who decide to move forward on this journey are motivated by love of the art and absolutely not at all by practicality.

The third Omar Thomas Large Ensemble album, “Griot Songs,” will be released on February 7, 2025, 15-and-a-half years after the first notes that comprise its 7-track, 83-minute runtime were written and 9 years since the completion of its most recent track. Every big band composer has their own ways of realizing their projects from conception to release, be it crowdfunding, grants, out-of-pocket, etc.. The best way to fully realize a big band project is the way that allows for it to get done. We’re all on our own timelines, which my 16-year odyssey with this project made painfully clear to me, and due to the size and scope of such an undertaking, it’s wise to allow as much time as one needs to create the kind of project one can be proud of in the end. The point of this blog post is not to share HOW to record a big band album; the point is to share how *I* recorded this album, with the hopes that any shared information will resonate with and be useful to a composer considering doing the same.

Three of the pieces on the record – “The Sun in September,” “Nothing There,” and “A Touch of Obsidian, A Flash of Scarlet” – were written in the late summer through the autumn of 2008. They were originally written as nonet tunes for an ASCAP showcase in New York City where the venue was not large enough to accommodate a full big band. The full big band versions of these tunes were created after that gig, undergoing several revisions over the years, and seeing their “finalization” in the six months leading up to our recording week in late May of 2024. The first versions of “Sail to the Moon,” “The Path,” and “Episode d’Azur” were written in 2011, and “Obeah Woman” came last in 2015. It was fascinating for me to start the session revisions on these tunes as an older composer and after becoming several different iterations of myself over the years, and especially after having spent the last seven years living and working primarily in the wind ensemble world.

The massive specter looming over this entire undertaking was the price tag. I’d decided early on that I didn’t want to go the crowdfunding route like I’d done for our first record, I AM (2012), as I find the act of prolonged, intensive solicitation to be draining and nerve-wracking. Not wanting the completion of my project to hinge upon procuring the several competitive grants it would take to realize the scope of project I had in mind, I decided that I would start putting aside money that I was pulling in from both my teaching appointment and from my work in the wind ensemble space via commissions, residencies, music sales/rentals, and speaking engagements. With adequate compensation of musicians for our labor being somewhat of a twisted running joke in our field, it was of paramount importance that I be able to pay my musicians what they are worth for their time and talents, and so I resolved to save for as long as it took to make that a reality (which, in my case, equaled the better part of a decade).

I began the logistical planning of album photography, choosing the recording studio, staffing the band, and seeking out the mixing/mastering engineer almost a year before the session. While in Europe in the summer of 2023, I took a quick trip over to London to hire the services of my dear friend and photographer extraordinaire, Remi McQuen, to do a photo shoot for the project. Mind you, I’ve had years and years to conceive of the physical presentation of the artwork, so I was able to go to him with a clear idea of what I wanted to say via the photos, of course leaving space for his professional input. I leaned heavily on my dear friend and fellow composer/arranger, Nicholas Urie, to assist me in selecting a recording studio and with contact information for some musicians in the Boston/New York corridor, as my music network exists in that part of the country while I currently live in Austin, Texas. I reached out to WGBH Studios in Boston with ample time to reserve their state-of-the-art space for three days in May 2024 to lay down the tracks. Having always been a fan of the sound of the WDR Big Band recordings, I sought out their chief engineer, Christian Schmitt, to ask his availability in about a year and to leave plenty of time to get on his calendar. Note: it’s always a great idea to listen to other big band recordings to get a clear idea of the sound world you’d like for your project to imitate and inhabit…one that works best for your style of writing!

The last time the Omar Thomas Large Ensemble performed a gig was 9 years ago in 2015 at the Bean Town Jazz Festival, so while there were a number of members I was able to retain and hire for the session, I needed to staff several new chairs in the group. I recognize that the most ideal situation would be to be actively gigging with one’s group, having the time and consistency of performance and rehearsal to internalize the music, allowing for any evolution of the notes to happen organically and collaboratively, and then coming fresh off a big hit, taking it to the studio to lay down this music that everyone has become one with…but such a scenario is a luxury that did not and could not exist for us. Historically, my band has mostly been comprised of friends and classmates from The New England Conservatory of Music and colleagues from my former employer, Berklee College of Music. In staffing the members of the group who had never before played these charts (which ended up being about half the band), I was looking for musicians who could not only read their asses off (I was told my music is difficult, but I don’t think it’s THAT bad, ha!), but who could also contribute to cultivating a vibe, an energy, and a sense of community that would lead to a joyous and joy-filled experience. There are plenty of amazing players out there, but the camaraderie is just as important to me as the talent!

With six months left until the session, it was time for me to blow the dust off the old Finale files and to craft these pieces into the form of them I wanted to immortalize on the record. Having imagined this project just about every day for the past many years, I had developed clear ideas on the changes I wanted to make to each tune. Naively, I assumed that at least one or two of the pieces would be in session-ready shape, disregarding just how much I’d changed and grown over the past decade and more. Thus began an intense half-year period of me questioning what the hell I was thinking when I voiced this chord this way or decided the piece needed to go in that direction or how I’d missed a prime opportunity to double this melody here or why I thought it was wise to have the whole band whistle a long, complicated melody. I ended up spending every day of that period infusing each of those Finale files (which, thank the ancestors that they all still opened and functioned after all that time) with the composer and musician I had become, adding some sections, removing others, overhauling voicings, reharmonizing passages, changing soloists, and reformatting, reformatting, reformatting (which I still could’ve done more of, but time was working against me!).

I believe heavily in the spirit of collaboration and, with me acknowledging what I don’t know, I was fortunate to have musicians in the band off whom I could bounce ideas and questions regarding voicings, extended techniques, and similar concepts, allowing for the creative process and resulting recording to become a deeply collaborative endeavor. This process involved emails, phone calls, FaceTimes, and audio messages volleyed back and forth.

I attended the biennial ISJAC Symposium in May of 2024, which happened just days before the week of the session. Attending the symposium is wonderful for so many reasons, but in the context of my session it was exactly what I needed to immerse myself in and reacquaint myself with this artistic space and community, and to ready myself for a marathon two days of rehearsal and three days in the studio. I flew straight from Nashville to Boston to prepare myself for the big week.

Our two days of rehearsal took place at NEC, (many of) our alma mater. In a full-circle moment, I realized that our rehearsal space for Monday, 318 in the Jordan Hall building, was the same room where I assembled what would become the first iteration of the Omar Thomas Large Ensemble for my Master’s degree recital 16 years prior in 2008! Oh, by the way…make sure you print out parts and have them taped for the rehearsals. To save face, I’d rather not expound upon why I decided to mention that…

I went into the week carrying with me two invaluable pieces of advice given to me by the great and wonderful Maria Schneider: 1) that it’s not necessary to have everything completely figured out by the time the gig arrives, leaving space for collaborative magic to take root, and 2) that well-fed musicians are happy musicians! Both of those gems came in incredibly handy. I remember hearing the opening of “Obsidian…” in rehearsal the first day and quickly realizing that it wasn’t going to work. Through the power of musical crowdsourcing and the collective knowledge/network of members in the band, the orchestration evolved to include mandolin and layered electric guitar…a texture I would’ve never come up with on my own! On the podium, I find that my ability to hear critically and analytically decreases significantly, as I’m now also responsible for conducting and cueing.  Having someone talented and trusted to be your second set of ears in rehearsals and in the booth is probably one of the strongest pieces of advice I can offer. My person was Nicholas Urie, and I’ll continue to proclaim that I could not have realized this project without his invaluable assistance and expertise! Also, Maria was 100% correct that meal expenses would be the best money you can spend in the process!

After an incredible, inspiring week of cutting the record with friends old and new, I hired Rémi Bourcereau of Studio la Menuiserie in Noisy-le-sec, a suburb of Paris, to edit the tracks I’d received from WGBH engineers Antonio Oliart and Téa Mottolese, to prepare them for the final mixing and mastering process. I spent two days in his studio while in Paris for a few weeks this summer to be a part of that process, after which we sent the files to Christian Schmitt in Köln, Germany for their final rendering. Again, I can’t stress enough how useful and necessary it is to have another set of ears you trust be a part of the back-and-forth of the mixing process!

During the mixing process, I reached out to Memphis Vinyl to inquire about the pressing of a few hundred copies of the ‘Griot Songs’ double LP, followed by a conversation with Shawn Williams of Two Worlds Graphics regarding the design of the packaging. I decided not to go the CD route due to Apple ushering in the death of the medium by removing CD drives from their laptops to push everyone towards their streaming service. I did end up pressing about 100 double CDs, however, as my publicist Ann Braithwaite of Braithwaite & Katz mentioned that many reviewers around the world still prefer to receive them. Finally, a timeline was set for digital distribution with Zach Diaz of Soulspazm.

With a grant I received from my employer, The University of Texas at Austin, I was able to hire the UT Bands Director of Creative Media, Mike Lebrias, to fly in for a few days and document some rehearsal and studio time to create promotion materials. Combining footage from the session with an interview conducted in my office at UT, Mike created a video to publicize the release of our first single “Obeah Woman,” which was released on October 25, 2024. We created a second video announcing the launch of the vinyl pre-orders, which began on December 6, 2024, and will create third and fourth videos for the release of the second single, an arrangement of Radiohead’s “Sail to the Moon” on January 10, 2025 and the full album release on February 7, 2025 respectively.

The most important and universal piece of advice I can share is that one must be patient during the process. From beginning to end, recording and releasing a big band record is a herculean task. Again, allow it to take as much time as is needed to create the project of your dreams. I will also say one more time that my point in sharing all this is not to tell you how it MUST be done, but simply to share what my process entailed. While there will be commonalities, everyone’s process will differ. Take your time, don’t go it alone, ask lots of questions, be patient, and use the experience to strengthen your bonds between those with whom you’re creating your project. At the center of what we do as musicians is human connection, which must be a central focus of your album creation story. Thank you for reading, and best of luck with the realization of your big band record!

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