Our Highway, the latest album by the New York based quintet Cowboys & Frenchmen, could be Exhibit A in a trial assessing the impact of jazz education. The frequent target of disparaging essays, institutional jazz academia is said to produce precise but bloodless musicians who more often than not, resemble the five bespectacled men in Cowboys & Frenchmen.
The topic should also be of interest to anyone with a stake in area jazz programs such as the UMKC Conservatory. Cowboys & Frenchman’s place in the debate is of particular interest to area observers because Addison Frei, the ensemble’s pianist, was raised in Lawrence, Kansas. Frei’s bandmates are saxophonist and flautist Ethan Helm, saxophonist Owen Broder, bassist Ethan O'Reilly and drummer Matt Honor.
In making a case against jazz education, the prosecution might insist Our Highway exemplifies the stilted rigidity drilled into students in high school and collegiate programs. The cerebral album is neither freewheeling nor funky. Our Highway is better suited to formal concert halls than neon-lit music venues.
The defense might reply that Our Highway is deeply melodic, immaculately performed and unflaggingly interesting. The band has completely absorbed the compositional structures of Oliver Nelson and Charles Mingus and displays the technical rigor demanded by Duke Ellington. My vote? Not guilty.