Youthfully precocious composer/conductor Nicholas Urie was born in Los Angeles in 1985. He began winning jazz composition awards when he was 17 years old and studied composition with Bob Brookmeyer, then graduating from the New England Conservatory of Music with a master’s degree.

This résumé establishes Urie as a wunderkind and this designation manifests on his big band event Excerpts From an Online Dating Service (Red Piano, 2009). Excerpts is a suite composed around actual online dating site postings. Utterly adult in content, the “book” of Excerpts From an Online Dating Service is a provocative snapshot of electronic divining for love.

Urie uses the prewar Berlin Cabaret as the stylistic vehicle for carrying the ribald and carnal pheromonic texts. “Yes I have a picture you might like/In it I’m banging my ex-wife” informs from “About Me,” while “You’re like that first hit of crack/that first spike of smack” metaphorically signals a gang lament in “Wayne.”

Urie takes these most unpoetic poems and fashions them for the bold plasticity of Christine Correa’s voice. His 16-piece “Large Ensemble” (which includes Michael Christianson’s tuba) creates a ready Kurt Weill groove. Ute Lemper should have sounded so good. The presence of clarinetist Chris Speed is fully employed on the final two pieces, providing a sharp counterpoint to the bright brass Urie favors.

Excerpts From an Online Dating Service is very well conceived. Jazz (or any genre, for that matter) has never seen such adaptation. Writing music to surround such difficult text is a feather in Urie’s cap. Making it so immediately accessible and entertaining is a mark of the young composer’s genius.

Big band music has never veered so far from its swing roots as it does on this recording. Urie does not simply blow off the dust of the large jazz ensemble, he sandblasts it off with Uranium.

C. Michael Bailey,   All About Jazz

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Kurt Weill for the internet age? In an astonishing debut, composer Nicholas Urie used texts from online dating ads as lyrics for big-band settings whose manner echoes the ribald, anti-bourgeois cabaret songs of 1920s Berlin. And in singer Christine Correa, who handles the lyrics’ loneliness, longing for love, and diverse shades of sexual interest, domination and masochism, he has his Lotte Lenya. The intent, he says, is celebratory, not satirical, but the act of celebration surely implies a comment on contrary attitudes to the material. The orchestrations, notably About Me, Cougar Seeks Prey, Bad Girl and Afternoon, are assured and imaginative, never overwhelming the subjects and consistent in tone for each one. The band responds with finesse and exuberance, with fine soloists in Frank Carlberg (piano), John Carlson (trumpet) and Chris Speed (clarinet).

Ray Comiskey, Irish Times

The beauty of Nicholas Urie’s debut CD lies in the details. Excerpts from an Online Dating Service is a marvelous experiment, bolstered by the unique anticipation found in the online dating scene. Urie, just 23 years of age, assembles a large ensemble to tackle the movement of the internet personal advertisement, turning the cultural landscape of internet encounters into profound, evocative poetry.

Leonard Cohen once said that “poetry is just the evidence of your life.” The evidence of life found in online personal ads is compelling, to say the least, and Urie has really stumbled upon a goldmine of lyrical content.

“Those people who take their time writing the ad really manage to say something special about who they are and how they see life,” Urie says.”What initially piqued my interest was the amazing level of vulnerability people are willing to show on the internet.”

With the occasional exception of some word repetition, all of the lyrics found on Excerpts from an Online Dating Service have been taken from internet dating sites. “Each one is an artifact that highlights some aspect of this amazingly specific and highly stylized internet subculture,” Urie says in the liner notes.

Excerpts doesn’t rest on its laurels as a gimmick record. Urie’s compositions give the anonymous words life without mockery or irony, brilliantly weaving legitimate emotion through the language and deepening the all-too-human observations these words reveal.

Anchored by Joe Martin’s bass, Frank Carlberg’s piano, and Michael Calabrese’s drums, Urie’s large ensemble ably tackles the compositions with care.

Vocalist Christine Correa’s sincerity airs out the material, drawing on the raw integrity of the internet personal ads without an ounce of derision or pretention. She is called upon to sing some truly peculiar lyrics and does so freely and beautifully.

“I’m thirty, 6’3, blond hair, blue eyes, in a band – I’m a singer,” she sings on “About Me.” The song’s mischievous gait illuminates the rather terse “lyrics” and Correa’s vocals offer new meaning, exposing a sense of helplessness that may or may not have been intended by the original author.

Urie’s use of soloists is always on point, with Bill McHenry and Jeremy Udden’s saxophone work serving as “replies” to the personal ads and trumpeter John Carlson dropping in an entirely exceptional dynamic. Chris Speed guests on clarinet.

“Wayne” is perhaps the record’s trickiest spot. Correa punches through uncouth lyrics, delivering lines like “If I could just wax that ass just one more time, that’d be phat” and “When I get out I’m gunna fuck you hard as you want” with incredible honesty and intelligibility.

“Cougar Seeks Prey” finds Correa once again assuming another identity, while “Holidaze” spins like a wayward Christmas tune led by Martin’s steady bass.

Excerpts from an Online Dating Service is a compelling work of art. It deepens the dialogue of humanity as it shifts into the technological age, examining the transfer of our base instincts to small blurbs of intent on a website. There is nothing cheap, tawdry, or condescending in Urie’s interpretations and his honest approach is well worth a listen.

Jordan Richardson, blogcritics.org

Compoer Urie, 23, reflects both Duke Ellington and Carl Stalling in his work not to mention the latest YouTube viral video tune. The nine pieces his 17-piece unit romp through are more fun than a new iPhone; or maybe just made to download onto on for wild ringtones.

Grade: A

Stuart Derdeyn, The Provence

Young Nicholas Urie (born 1985) is a recent graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston, having studied,among other classes, composition with Bob Brookmeyer.  Yet, it’s not the influence nor the sound of the venerable composer/trombonist I hear on Urie’s debut; no, it’s more Carla Bley coming through (with a touch of Raymond Scott as well.)

As one can tell from the title of the recording, Urie has created a fascinating program built upon personal ads culled from  “Casual Encounters” message boards. While the words of several of the songs can not be reprinted here and may shock more prudish listeners, the music is quite satisfying.  Label owner Frank Carlberg is the pianist, his wife Christine Correa the vocalist, a five-person reed section (Chris Speed joins on clarinet for 2 tracks), 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, bass and drums.  Correa handles even the raunchiest lyrics with aplomb, turning phrases such as “You’re like the first hit of crack/That first spike of smack” into intriguing music, a modern-day Cole Porter-esque plea for sex (from prison, no less.) “Hilidaze (sic)” is a stunning ballad, a person alone on Christmas looking to hook up; “No gift-wrap needed/That is for sure/ Why can’ there be one day/I have some joy?”  The arrangement features a long bass solo from Joe Martin with the horns slowly swirling behind him (also excellent accompaniment from drummer Martin Calabrese.)

“Interlude #1″ and “Interlude #2″ are both very short yet are complete statements  (just no solos.) “#1″ is enlivened by Correa’s rapid-fire reading of the lyrics and Randy Pingen’s blowsy trombone work while “#2″, subtitled “Aspiring Robo-Girl seeks Titanium Clad Man” is a delightful miniature,, over before you can read the words.

“Cougar Seeks Prey” features a great instrumental sparring match between Bill McHenry’s hardy tenor sax and John Carlson’s blustery trumpet,yet there’s just as much fun listening to Brian Landus’s bass clarinet and Michael Christianson’s tuba commenting beneath them. Speed’s clarinet solo is supported by great sectional playing.  “Afternoon” has the feel of a Duke Ellington ballad interpreted by Randy Newman; again, the sectional work is superb and Speed’s clarinet wraps sensuously around Correa’s vocal lines.  The insistent rhythm section, the ominous trombones, the catty clarinets and saxophones, all these elements and more make the piece stand out.

This is a stunning debut disk and not just one might be taken bacjk by the subject matter. The arrangements are quite impressive, the playing sparkling, and the compositions melodically strong.  Correa makes even the bluest of lyrics listenable and imbues the ballads with passion and heart.  Remember his name – judging by the music and scope of “Excerpts…”, Nicholas Urie has a great future. For more information, go to www.redpianorecords.org.

One other note; this is the 3rd CD I’ve reviewed in the last year produced by trumpeter/educator John McNeil, the others being “Dry Bridge Road” by Noah Preminger and “Edge of the Mind” by the Schumacher/Sanford Sound Assembly. Each one is a knockout, in its own way – McNeil must have great ears!

Richard Kamins, Hartford Courant

People can find inspiration for art in some surprising places. This happens because creative types tend to see relationships between objects that seem quite unlike. Nicholas Urie’s use of human speech as source material isn’t exactly new. For example, Steve Reich created “Different Trains” from pieces of conversation overheard on train trips between Los Angeles and New York. Ah, but just look at the title the CD. Yes, the basic ingredients did indeed come from Internet dating sites. The song’s title “Bad Girl?” doesn’t exactly telegraph this, but the lines “I am familiar with the forms/Of female discipline” do get you closer.

The song opens with Christine Correa’s pure voice singing a proud ascending passage: “I am a forty-two year old/Good looking and sexy…” The band kicks in with a sort of naughty march and we’re transported directly into a horny and desperate Broadway play of the mind. I mean that in the best possible way. Urie’s stellar ensemble is quite malleable, equally comfortable with both that thematic march and the swingin’, straight ahead jazz that’s played later. Oh and there’s some bump & grind burlesque right near the end as Correa gets down to business, singing about “good ol’ fashioned discipline” and “spanking fun.” Hmmm, a cold shower might be necessary after this track.

Mark Saleski, Jazz.com

“Here’s a hipster that could have taken found poetry and really used it to slam his subjects but instead, he inverts his hipster eye and evokes a kindness toward cougars prowling personal ads as well as other denizens of the byte looking for love in all the wrong places… This is a nice cutting edge date that takes it to the max and pushes the young crew behind it”.

Playful, spirited and conversational are some of the traits that color composer Nicholas Urie’s debut effort, Excerpts From An Online Dating Service. The tracks are descriptive of pop culture’s love affair with the “casual encounters” posted over the Internet. Urie tells in a recent press release that the inspiration for these compositions were the postings that people have made online, citing there is an “amazing level of vulnerability people are willing to show on the Internet… virtually any topic is freed from taboo… without self-censorship or traditional social filtering.” At 23 years old, Urie has taken on an ambitious project to connect jazz music with pop culture fetishes, and showing that these art forms complement each other beautifully. Produced by John McNeil, Excerpts From An Online Dating Service has the potential of becoming the next Rent-type show on Broadway.

The buffoon-like tumbles of the trombones and tuba give tracks like “About Me” and “Holidaze” a vaudeville-style storytelling with animated sprigs and well-orchestrated curls and bindings. The music is fun and exuberant and jumps out into the audience making them relate to the stories being told. The bobbling beats and puffy horns sail with a comfortable ease as vocalist Christine Correa gives the songs personality like in “Bad Girl” and “Wayne” where her voice rises into blustery flames. Her singing is an active ingredient in these tracks giving them vitality and a plumpness that jolts the music into a rigorous workout. Sometimes her voice takes complete command of the reins like in “Cougar Seeks Prey,” and sometimes she has a more laid-back role in the songs like in the lithesome strands and balladry wavelets of “Afternoon.”

Nicholas Urie’s debut offering has its melodic pins and needles beautifully in line with Correa’s searing vocals giving the tracks moments of majestic lifts. Excerpts From An Online Dating Service is an ambitious offering, drawing lines that connect chamber-jazz influences with pop culture themes and presenting audiences with stories that mirror their own lives, or at least make them ponder the lives being presented in the compositions.

Susan Frances, Jazz Times

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Composer Nicholas Urie could be content with crafting large ensemble jazz excursions. But the twenty-something’s viewpoint, creative vision, and ambition is much broader. On his conceptual long-form project, Excerpts from an Online Dating Service, Urie remarkably exploits the Internet as a foundation for his creativity, specifically the confessional expressions he discovered on personal ad websites. While it’s not uncommon to find inspiration from the online community, these autobiographical announcements provide new fodder for Urie’s artistic disposition, offering a strange kind of collaboration between musician and those who have left their thoughts, rants, and responses strewn among blogs, bulletin boards and personal web pages.

Excerpts from an Online Dating Service marries Urie’s varied background, uniting his jazz composition skills, his active conducting and arranging experience, and his ability to combine jazz with diverse contemporary musical forms. Other musicians could easily have turned this undertaking into a gimmick or cheapened the real-life online personalities whose entreaties, pleas, and promises impart a marked naturalism to the lyrics. As Urie notes “Those people who take their time writing really manage to say something special about who they are and how they see life. What initially piqued my interest was the amazing level of vulnerability people are willing to show.” There is no derision or irony, and the fragments of real dialogue used in the songwriting are emotionally intensified.

Urie employs spirited, lively and colloquial characteristics to color his compositional palette. He uses Red Piano label owner Frank Carlberg on keyboards, a quintet reed section (with clarinet bolstering two tracks), four trumpets, three trombones, tuba, bass and drums. But the central axis is vocalist Christine Correa, who verbalizes the gutter poetry of the casual seekers of sexual fantasies.

After a brassy and cabaret-ish overture that sets the album’s overall tone and presents the main theme, the biographical “About Me” introduces the first persona. As pianist Carlberg, bassist Joe Martin, drummer Michael Calabrese and the horn section lay out a roguish New Orleans-like stride, Correa reveals a terse profile: “I’m thirty, 6’3″, blond hair, blue eyes, in a band – I’m a singer.” Correa gives the rest of the song’s R-rated solicitation an unusual meaning divorced from the original intent, betraying a feeling of emasculation never planned by the man who authored the lines.

On slowly turning Christmas come-on “Holidaze,” Urie spins a wayward and melancholy melody led by Martin’s steadfast bass and Calabrese’s ticking rhythm. The piece is a striking first-person ballad, about  a woman alone during the holidays and hoping to hook up. With a non-judgmental frankness, Correa intones, “No gift-wrap needed/That is for sure/ Why can’t there be one day/I have some joy?” The number finishes with an extended Martin bass solo, with the horns and Carlberg’s piano carefully curling and gliding behind him.

That’s followed by the very naughty discipline ditty “Bad Girl?,” which commences with Correa’s solo voice singing the self-complacent excerpt: “I am a forty-two year old/Good looking and sexy.” The band then enters with a waggish march. This cut is a good example of just how illustrious Urie’s ensemble is: flexible and evenly at-home with a motif movement while performing swinging, straightforward jazz, and then switching to an old-fashioned bump & grind parody that ends the ribald declaration.

The lengthiest and most unexpurgated arrangement is “Wayne,” based on a prisoner’s lament for extreme sex. While Correa candidly and brilliantly sings some acutely freakish quotations, the group deftly moves from bop to free jazz, exorcising Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, highlighted by saxophone workouts, Carlberg’s skittering piano runs, and Calabrese’s resourceful percussive aptitude.

If it is not clear, Excerpts from an Online Dating Service includes graphic and explicit subject matter ranging from bondage to extramarital cheating to hard drug use, and sometimes the libretto reads like the equivalent to the scrawls found on public toilet stall walls. However, Urie, Correa, and the other musicians also vindicate these rants and raves, displaying the intimate emotions that inadvertently run through the coarsest language. It is the humanistic observations in these publicly exposed narratives that conveys a rare honesty and openness that Urie has astutely tapped into.

Doug Simpson, Audiophile Audition

3.5 out of 4 stars in All About Jazz Italia

Non manca certo il coraggio, a Nicholas Urie, giovane compositore (24 anni) di Los Angeles. Coraggiosa è infatti la scelta di realizzare il proprio album d’esordio con una big band. E coraggiosa è anche l’idea intorno a cui ruota questo progetto. Come indicato dal titolo, l’album mette in musica testi tratti da siti internet di annunci per incontri. Una autentica e variegata commedia umana, con tutto il suo carico di sentimenti, espressi e sottaciuti.

Senza ironizzare e senza giudicare. Lo sguardo di Urie è neutro. Il suo obiettivo è mettere a fuoco, dare forma (artistica), ad un mezzo espressivo (l’annuncio su internet) che per sua stessa natura si rivolge ad un pubblico di cui conosce poco o nulla, e che quindi ha molto in comune con qualunque altra forma d’arte.

L’umore delle musiche segue impeccabilmente quello dei testi, e cerca di tenersi ben distante dalle atmosfere scintillanti tipiche della big band. Qui siamo vicini, piuttosto, alla rappresentazione teatrale, alla “messa in scena” di situazioni e sentimenti. Ci fossero dialoghi, potremmo forse parlare di musical, o meglio ancora di opera-jazz, tanto è forte il senso drammaturgico delle partiture. Ma qui dialoghi non ce ne sono. Ci sono solo monologhi (i testi degli annunci, appunto), che anche quando cercano di essere spavaldi ed espliciti rivelano un forte carico di malinconia.

di Paolo Peviani