Multiple ensembles have adopted the Sound Assembly name over time. A British barbershop quartet that operated under it rebranded as the BABS Champion Quartet in 1994, with the late Bernie Cureton among its members until his death in early 2009. A separate 1990s jazz-tinged alternative rap collective drawing from the style of Digable Planets, A Tribe Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers, and De La Soul issued the album In the Pocket on Moonshine Music in 1996. The Sound Assembly discussed here, however, is the acoustic post-bop big band active in New York City from the early 2000s onward.
Also known as the Schumacher/Sanford Sound Assembly, the ensemble maintains a seventeen-piece roster and operates under the joint direction of composer-arrangers David Schumacher (born May 17, 1974) and J.C. Sanford. Trumpeters and flügelhornists who have performed with the group encompass David Smith, Bud Burridge, John Bailey, and John Hines; trombonists include Mark Patterson, Lolly Bienenfeld, and Alan Ferber, with Chris Olness handling bass trombone. Saxophone and woodwind personnel comprise Ben Kono on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Chris Bacas on tenor and soprano saxophone plus clarinet, Dan Willis on alto and soprano saxophone with flute, David Riekenberg on baritone saxophone and bass clarinet, and Eric Rasmussen on alto saxophone and clarinet. Additional contributors are guitarist Andrew Green, pianist Deanna Witkowski, bassist David Ambrosio, and drummer John Hollenbeck.
Schumacher and Sanford alone manage the group’s conducting and arranging duties. Rather than focusing on jazz or Tin Pan Alley standards, they feature their own compositions. Among the bandleading and arranging models they have drawn upon are the Gil Evans Orchestra, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, the George Russell Orchestra, the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, Gunther Schuller, and trombonist Bob Brookmeyer’s New Art Orchestra. Chicago-born Schumacher, who performed with Lionel Hampton’s big band during the 1980s and joined Harry Connick, Jr.’s ensemble in 1990, plays baritone saxophone, while Sanford plays trombone; neither instrumentalist appears on the debut recording Edge of the Mind, where their contributions remain limited to leadership, conducting, composing, and arranging.
Although the band is headquartered in New York City, both leaders attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where they encountered Russell and Brookmeyer and absorbed extensive lessons in directing ensembles. Sound Assembly originated in 2001; following four years of performances, the members tracked Edge of the Mind in Brooklyn in 2005 under the production of Schumacher, Sanford, and trumpeter John McNeil. The album remained unreleased for four years before appearing on Beauport Jazz in 2009.
