Diverge predates the recording of the first official Abstract Truth release, Blue Route. It showcases the band in fully developed form. Recorded live in a club in 1987 -- the true test – 2 microphones - the first set captured live …intimate and explosive…and you are there. 

Abstract Truth was formed in the early 80’s with the premise to diverge! It was time to leave the swing band influence and create a new vision. Certainly, to be respectful of the tradition but not to be limited by it, a new “palette” would need to be created. And a new instrumentation that keeps explosive power and drive and yet one that relies on the soloist to dominate as in a small group. The intimacy of a small group and the power of the big band.

By the time of this recording (1987) all the major swing band leaders had passed…Count Basie, Buddy Rich, Thad Jones, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, and Woody Herman (who I had the honor of playing with.)  Their influence and stamp on “the music” is historic and an important part of our culture. Their legacy is self-sustaining.  A new instrumentation would speak to a new point of view—a new period in the evolution of style…just as painters evolved visual styles.

Through high school and college Kelly Johnson and Joseph Schumpeter were profound influences on my (non-musical) thinking. They were ones to diverge!  Their innovative thinking in aeronautics and economics was inspirational in developing a “new” band and the application of the concept to make it different…to diverge. 

In assembling Abstract Truth it was not about forming a group like those that had preceded it—no desire to be a “keeper of the flame”  -- more like motivation to start a new fire…innovative and incendiary in its own right.

Taking a name for the ensemble was a departure from the swing era mode of using the name of the leader to identify the ensemble. “Abstract Truth” served a dual purpose -- acknowledging the musical influence of Oliver Nelson on my writing approach and the basic definition of those words alone. Abstract truth… a perfect phrase to define the honesty of jazz improvisation along with the meaning of abstract itself – to consider (something) separately from something else.

Subsequent recordings bear fruit to this concept.

JAZZed Magazine
March 2020
"What's On Your Playlist"
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Downbeat Master Class by John Vanore December 2017, Volume 84, Number 12
"Creating an Alternative Large Ensemble"
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Audio & Score examples