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Where We Started

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Aidan Plank

Label: Hidden Cinema Records
Released: 2026
Duration: 00:35:00
Views: 122

Tracks

Where We Started; Inside Your Dream; Ocean Poem; In the Bleak Midwinter; The Grand Arch of Nothingness; Billy; Glacier

Personnel

Additional Personnel / Information

Charlotte Beers Plank, piano

Album Description

Where We Started is the debut large ensemble release from bassist and composer Aidan Plank, and his third album as a leader/co-leader. Featuring seven original compositions and one original arrangement for big band, the recording — out April 24, 2026 on Hidden Cinema Records — marks a defining artistic step for one of Northeast Ohio’s most respected musical voices.

Plank’s journey to large ensemble writing began decades ago. As a young bassist immersed in the catalogs of Blue Note and ECM, he assumed composition was simply part of the job description. Small ensemble writing came naturally. Writing for big band did not.

Inspired by the expansive sonic worlds of Gil Evans, Maria Schneider, and Lyle Mays, Plank wrestled for years with a question that felt both thrilling and intimidating: how do composers make large ensembles sound at once intricate, unified, and inevitable?

The answer began to unfold during his tenure with the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, where he has served as bassist since 2013. Immersed in masterworks by Duke Ellington and Jim McNeely, and encouraged by colleagues including Paul Ferguson and Brad Wagner, Plank finally began writing for big band himself.

What started as a leap of faith gradually reshaped his artistic identity. “I no longer felt simply like a bassist who composed tunes,” Plank reflects. “I felt that I wanted to be a composer.”

Where We Started documents that evolution. The music unfolds with a dream-like narrative quality — diverse in style, yet unified in voice. Plank resists strict genre boundaries, drawing instead from a wide range of influences to create what he views as a singular, personal sound.

Critics have long recognized that voice. Writing in All About Jazz, Troy Dostert praised Plank’s “lithe musicality” and “tender support,” while noting his ability to balance structure and improvisational freedom. Those qualities — lyricism, patience, and architectural clarity — are on full display here.

At its core, Where We Started is also a testament to community. Plank credits the colleagues who performed his earliest attempts, encouraged his growth, and helped bring this music to life. He offers particular gratitude to mentor Dave Morgan, whose guidance during Plank’s graduate studies helped shape much of the material heard on this recording.

“I thank you for listening,” Plank says. “I hope your own story of Where We Started takes shape as you experience this music.”

Album uploaded by Stephen Harvey