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But big-band composers, just to hear their music, need a big band≱4 to 18 people adept at reading music—and that can be unwieldy and expensive. Pianists can play the tunes they write whenever they want horn players can readily assemble a trio or quartet. Argue is tying together the disparate strands of music that have shaped his life and his rambling era. Flutes clashing with polyrhythmic percussion, an electric guitar streaking through mysterious horn reveries, melody lines crisscrossing at different tempos, laced in lush harmonies or dark dissonances—all of it propelled forward, head-swirling but seamless and accessible: in an oddball way, it swings, sways, rocks, or all three. The conceit may sound a bit precious on paper, but not on the bandstand. "I'm exploring what big-band music might sound like if it had stayed popular and incorporated all the music that's come along since—rock, grunge, hip-hop, everything." "It's the idea of big bands as an antiquated form of music that evolved to fill a niche in their heyday but fell from popularity, and are now the domain of eccentrics," he explained. Secret Society springs from this same tension. He describes his group as a "steampunk big band," after the genre of postmodern fiction that tells futuristic stories that take place in the distant past. The liner notes of his first album, Infernal Machines (2009), are set in the typeface of a Victorian political pamphlet and state that the sessions were "recorded 'twixt the 15th and 17th of December in the Year of Our Lord MMVIII." The musicians' names are listed under the heading "Co-Conspirators," with Argue identified as "Composer, Conductor, Ringleader."Ĭlearly, Argue, who's 38, has his playful side, but the persona he's crafted is no mere affectation.

His 18-piece ensemble, which he calls Secret Society, isn't your granddad's big band. But he's making it within the realm of his choosing, and the band he created—in its vibe and its music—has crossover potential. Now he's a double winner in Downbeat's 2013 Critics' Poll—the top pick for Best Arranger, and tied with Maria Schneider for Best Big Band Leader.īy no stretch is Argue "rich and famous." This is jazz, after all. Two years ago, he was known mainly for having the strangest name in jazz since Ornette Coleman. The world is catching up with Darcy James Argue.