For those unaware, with the 15-piece Makrokosmos Orchestra, composer/guitarist Richard Nelson provides us all with a big picture view of contemporary creative music.

The orchestra, a New York City outpost for the Maine-based Nelson and co-leader and saxophonist Tim O’Dell, encompasses influences from modern jazz and contemporary classical music, maneuvering deftly between ambitious compositions and adventurous improvisation.

Due out February 2nd, 2024 from Adhyâropa Records on Bandcamp and other services, Dissolve comprises three musical pieces that combine to form a captivating and grand scale narrative (one that Nelson suggests can be recombined in any order).

Furthermore, the title of each disparate, but interconnected work suggests a state of transition, a transformative action fitting an orchestra that exists so boldly in the spaces between genre and category.

1. Dissolve
2. Float
3. Cohere

With Dissolve marking the latest evolution of Nelson’s innovative conception of orchestral compositions, this dutifully elegant, ardently sculpted new recording opens on the 15 minute, titular and opulently spirited Dissolve, which itself still manages to, at times, sound organically cultured.

They then next bring us the more cinematically-hued, gloriously orchestrated Float (12 minutes), where the opening streams of gossamer are as ethereal and as alighting as one could have only hoped to hear, its mid-section a dutiful ambiance of pure melodic perfection.

Lastly we are brought forth the supremely decadent Cohere (12 minutes), which together with its R&B, soulful melodies and, later on, even some engaging drums and bongos dueling, is my own personal favorite of the trio.

Musicians:
The personnel includes such multi-talented players as saxophonist Adam Kolker, trumpeters John Carlson and Jacob Varmus, hornist Marshall Sealy, keyboardist Arco Sandoval, bassists Ken Filiano and Matt Pavolka, percussionist Rex Benincasa, and drummers Scott Neumann and Rob Garcia, among others.

www.richardnelsonmusic.com