John Hollenbeck continues his string of fine large-ensemble outings with the 2015 Sunnyside album Songs We Like a Lot, following up Songs I Like a Lot, released in 2013 on the same label. Again mainly featuring Hollenbeck arrangements of favorite songs penned by others, the album also includes two compositions he wrote, "Constant Conversation" and "The Snow Is Deep on the Ground," the former with words by 13th century Persian poet and mystic Rumi and the latter -- first heard on the 2011 Claudia Quintet album What Is the Beautiful? -- with words by poet Kenneth Patchen. And like the initial Songs collection, the music here is performed by the Frankfurt Radio Bigband with singers Theo Bleckmann and Kate McGarry; Uri Caine is also featured on piano and organ. Hollenbeck has a keen ear for creating gorgeous music with unique timbral palettes, as in Claudia Quintet's combination of drums, vibraphone, reeds, accordion, and bass, and this album -- like his other big-band endeavors -- presents similarly attractive sonic variety across a more sweeping canvas. With its opening moments of shimmering vibes, piano, and clarinet, leadoff track "How Can I Keep from Singing," a 19th century hymn written by Robert Wadsworth Lowry with later lyric contributions from Pete Seeger and Doris Plenn, indeed begins in Claudia-esque territory, but over the course of its nine-plus minutes -- noteworthy for McGarry's spirited, Celtic-tinged vocal, Caine's subtly sanctified piano, Bleckmann's lovely wordless melodiousness, and a smoothly soulful tenor saxophone feature for Steffen Weber -- builds from minimalist instrumental counterpoint into a brass fanfare-laden crescendo that conveys thrilling exultance.

1		How Can I Keep From Singing
2		True Colors
3		Constant Conversation
4		Close to You
5		Get Lucky Manifesto
6		The Snow is Deep on the Ground
7		Up Up and Away

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