More than a year has passed since the Adam Meckler Orchestra (AMO) released Magnificent Madness at Parkway Theater in Minneapolis. The energy from that night was palpable. An 18-piece band with special guests and a four-piece choir brought the house down. The music was raw, emotional, and grooving. The band played music from their 2019 and 2014 releases, as well as previously unrecorded tunes such as the fast swinging ‘Ponderosa Pine’, and light and grooving ‘Toulouse’, which features MC Toki Wright. Live in Minneapolis represents a decade of work in the Twin Cities. Meckler honing his craft. Grinding, writing, practicing, organizing, recording, touring, and networking. Just after this performance, Meckler’s family packed up their South Minneapolis home and drove to the Upper Peninsula, where he now serves as the Director of Jazz Studies at Michigan Technological University.
Meckler has contributed to albums by the Youngblood Brass Band and Todd Clouser’s A Love Electric as a sideman, and his collaborative R&B project Nooky Jones has been called “sophisticated, seductive and smooth neo-soul music” by the Star Tribune. As a contributor to the Hornheads, the renowned horn section best known for backing Prince in the early to mid-1990s, he’s found opportunities as a touring trumpeter and session musician recording for artists such as Michael Jackson, Dave Koz, and Cory Wong. Meckler’s recordings as a leader include 2009 and 2016 quintet projects For Dad and Wander, his orchestra’s debut, When the Clouds Look Like This, which was listed among 2014’s Best Jazz Releases by iTunes, and the AMO’s 2019 Ropeadope Records release Magnificent Madness, which features collaborations with hip hop artists and soul singers.
credits
releases September 18, 2020
Personnel:
Saxes: Nelson Devereaux, David Hirsch, Ben Doherty, Shilad Sen, Angie Hirsch
Trumpets: Tom Krochock, Sten Johnson, Elaine Burt, Noah Ophoven-Baldwin
Trombones: Jeff Rinear, Nick Syman, Mason Hemmer, Lauren Husting
Guitar: Ethan Elseth
Keyboard: Steven Hobert
Bass: Graydon Peterson
Drums: Pete James-Johnson
Guests:
Michael B. Nelson – Trombone Disc 1 track 1
Harjinder: Vocals Disc 1 tracks 5, 7
Toki Wright: Voclas Disc 2 tracks 1, 3
Cameron Kinghorn: Vocals Disc 1 tracks 5, 7 – Disc 2 track 1
Jana Nyberg: Vocals Disc 1 tracks 5, 7 – Disc 2 track 1
Layce Dreamz: Vocals Disc 1 tracks 5, 7 – Disc 2 track 1
Bree Turner: Vocals Disc 1 tracks 5, 7 – Disc 2 track 1
Live Sound: Jay Perlman
Mixed by: Jason McGlone
Mastered by: Adam Tucker
Produced by: Adam Meckler
All songs composed by Adam Meckler (ASCAP) except Dark Days (Fat Freddy’s Drop arr. Meckler), and Tao of Heavy D (Rex Richardson Arr. Meckler).
For sheet music visit www.adammeckler.com
Photography by Reid Baumann
Album Design by Jamie Breiwick at B Side Graphics