The latest incarnation of the group features Boston-based brassmaster Bill Lowe, Brookline-bred guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Ken Filiano, Boston-born drummer Tomas Fujiwara, and altoist Jim Hobbs, the Boston stalwart who leads Aych, a new trio that plays the opening set. Bynum designs his freewheeling but lovingly calibrated music to showcase these singular instrumental voices.
“I’m an Ellington fanatic, and especially with this group I try to write for the individuals in the band,’’ says Bynum, 36, from his home in New Haven. “I’ve found that crafting material thinking about how the individuals in the band might manipulate and explore it is the best way to integrate composition and improvisation. It’s a particularly effective approach given the deep and long musical history we share.’’
While Bynum counts Fujiwara among his oldest friends, his most significant connection is with bass trombonist/tubist Lowe, who took the 15-year-old trumpeter under his wing and instilled a catholic sensibility that continues to serve him well. Bynum sought out Lowe when his high school dropped its music program, and the dedicated educator introduced him to the jazz tradition writ large.
“Bill is one of my musical fathers, and I wouldn’t be playing this music if it wasn’t for him,’’ Bynum says. “He’s someone who embraces a holistic definition of the music. He very quickly realized that I had a modicum of ability and a lot of interest and started hiring me as fourth trumpet on gigs, and that connected me to a whole scene of Boston musicians.’’
Bynum is equally effusive about Hobbs (“the baddest altoist on the planet, ridiculously unsung,’’ Bynum says) with whom he played extensively in the latter ’90s as a member of the Fully Celebrated Orchestra. It was the group’s bassist, Timo Shanko, who suggested that Bynum switch from trumpet to the smaller, more pungent cornet.
