Jazz in the Court: Bill McFarland and the Chicago Horns

You almost can’t go wrong with a lineup like Bill McFarland’s: a potent, hard-driving outfit that matches his throaty trombone with a beef-stew saxophonist, in this case Hank Ford or a fluent, octave-stretching trumpet ace named Kenny Anderson. This kind of three-horn sextet first appeared in the 1940’s, as a bebop miniaturization of the big bands that had dominated the swing era. It disappeared for most of the next decade – in part because of the paucity of trombonists able to handle the technical demands of bop – but it reached it’s zenith when Art Blakey expanded his Jazz Messengers to a three-horn line in the 1960’s.

The Messengers offer an obvious model for McFarland’s band. But so does the music of the Jazz Crusaders (and not just on those tunes where electronic keyboards replace the standard piano). Several of the songs on the Chicago Horns’ fine debut – “Fire Horns” (Sopro Records) – show the lighter swing, the comparatively relaxed melodies and the pop-soul song structure that made the Crusaders one of the most popular jazz bands of the late 1960’s.