Uncharted Realms
Release date: May 1, 2026
LISTEN to the first single
PRESAVE the album
Press member? Email me for a listening link.
1. Flowing Currents 5:11
(feat. Sean Imboden, Joel Tucker)
2. The Gentle Giant 7:48
(feat. John Raymond)
3. When You Look Beyond 6:05
(feat. Sean Imboden, Joel Tucker)
4. Balcony 10:19
(feat. Zac Granger, Sean Imboden)
5. Follow the Kite 7:51
(feat. Chris Pitts)
Sean Imboden - director/composer/tenor/soprano
Matt Pivec - alto/soprano/flute/clarinet
LaMont Webb - alto/flute/alto flute
Mark O'Connor - tenor/soprano
Cecily Terhune - tenor
Evan Drybread - baritone/bass clarinet
Clark Hunt - trumpet/flugelhorn
Ansyn Banks - trumpet/flugelhorn
Joey Tartell - trumpet/flugelhorn (Flowing, Giant, Beyond)
John Raymond - trumpet/flugelhorn (Flowing, Giant, Beyond)
Scott Belk - trumpet/flugelhorn (Balcony, Kite)
Kent Hickey - trumpet/flugelhorn (Balcony, Kite)
Tucker Woerner - trombone
Zac Granger - trombone
Chaz Rhodes - trombone
Rich Dole - bass trombone
Joel Tucker - guitar
Christopher Pitts - piano
Nick Tucker - bass
Cassius Goens III - drums
All compositions by Sean Imboden
Produced by Sean Imboden and Rich Dole
Assistant Production by Alex Shanafelt
Recorded at Primary Sound Studios Bloomington, IN, May 4-5, 2025
Engineered, Mixed, and Mastered by Jake Belser
Artwork and Graphic Design by Kara Tucker
Video Documentation by Pearce Vaughn
Session Photography by Mark Sheldon
Thank you to our financial contributors:
Executive Producers
Joan Clement
Susan and Don Foley
Corinne Imboden and Ray Kuehlthau
Supporters
David Allee
Shawna Frazer-Klopfer and Tibor Klopfer
Jay Gagne
Jeff and Joy Main
George Wolfe
Liner notes:
Uncharted Realms is the second album by my big band, the Sean Imboden Large Ensemble, released one year after our debut, Communal Heart. I’m grateful we’ve been able to keep this group alive and growing—it’s no small task getting 17 musicians in the same room on the same day. I’m fortunate to work with a dedicated community of talented, hard-working performers who are willing not only to take on every wild idea I put in front of them, but to shape those ideas with beauty, grace, and honesty. I’m deeply thankful to our financial supporters who help make these dreams possible, to every concertgoer who has purchased a ticket, and to every listener who takes this music home.
This album represents a clear, focused expression of our vision as a band: nurturing community while embracing risk. We venture into some unexpected territory on this record, and I’m grateful to everyone who continues to take the journey with us. I’m incredibly proud of this music, and I hope it resonates with you.
When I first shared these tracks with our visual artist, Kara Tucker, I offered a handful of guiding words: future, vision, optimism, fantasy, and playfulness. After listening, she painted a beautiful bluebird—an image of hope, joy, and new beginnings. As artists, we draw from our experiences and pour ourselves into what we create. Through that process, we work toward becoming better versions of ourselves, refining our craft as we move closer to an ideal—not only an artistic one, but a vision of how we wish the world to be. The art itself is not the destination, but a vessel: a way of sharing who we are and inviting others to be fully themselves. At our core, we long for connection, understanding, purpose, and safety. My wish is for a world in which these things are within reach for everyone. In that spirit, Uncharted Realms is an invitation—to imagine brighter possibilities, to listen with openness, and to step together into unfamiliar spaces where curiosity, empathy, and hope can take root.
The opening track, “Flowing Currents,” begins as the horn sections greet each other through flourishing counterpoint. Like the first blossoms of spring, small motifs emerge and grow, soon carried forward by the full rhythm section. The music gathers momentum as the saxophones surge into the melody, followed by my tenor solo. The piece concludes with a rock-inspired guitar solo from Joel Tucker, lifted by horn backgrounds and driving drums.
“The Gentle Giant” opens with a weighty groove, propelled by a Philip Glass–esque saxophone line and sharp, Stravinsky-inspired brass stabs. Two sides of the giant reveal themselves early on: raw, adolescent force set against a more thoughtful, introspective nature, expressed through an elegant theme. As the music settles, the flutes offer a pure, unadorned melody, followed by the delicate flugelhorn voice of John Raymond. When we perform this piece live, I like to tell the story of a giant discovering who he is—one who first feels compelled to frighten the villagers, but eventually learns that harmony is possible when he chooses connection instead.
“When You Look Beyond” carries forward the lyricism of “The Gentle Giant” and pushes it into motion. As an anthem for the present moment, it reflects a world that can feel chaotic, even fractured, while suggesting that hope and peace remain within reach if we look beyond our immediate circumstances. Ansyn Banks introduces the melody on solo trumpet, which develops into a dynamic horn soli. Joel Tucker channels the turbulence on guitar, while my tenor solo searches for a path back toward an optimistic horizon.
“Balcony” is one of the earliest pieces I’ve written, composed nearly a decade ago. It began with the bass line, played here with warmth and depth by Nick Tucker, followed by a melody that has stayed with me ever since. The arrangement continued to evolve over the years, after the band’s inaugural rehearsal in 2017. Even now, this melody feels like an intimate offering—a small piece of my soul shared with the listener. Zac Granger lends his voice through a heartfelt trombone solo, and I explore the soprano saxophone over tango-inspired backgrounds.
“Follow the Kite” closes the album with a spirit of playfulness and wonder. In many ways, it reflects my approach to composing. Just as I can’t control the wind, I don’t choose which ideas arrive—I simply try to follow them and enjoy the ride. The music unfolds as the muses offer their gifts, sometimes leading to unforeseen places (including the occasional measure in 21/16). Chris Pitts delivers an uninhibited piano solo, and in the end, the kite drifts gently back into the hands of its owner.
_______________
Press release by Shaun Brady:
Indianapolis’ acclaimed Sean Imboden Large Ensemble returns with its vibrant second album
Uncharted Realms, due out May 1, 2026, finds the big band exploring new sonic terrain
Indianapolis-based saxophonist, composer and bandleader Sean Imboden remembers the 2017 debut of his Large Ensemble as a less than auspicious occasion - an outdoor gig at a mud-sodden park in front of a “crowd” of roughly a dozen onlookers. There’s only one direction to go from there, but the big band has soared to impressive heights regardless of their humble beginnings.
The ensemble’s first album, 2025’s Communal Heart, met with widespread acclaim, including a 4-star All About Jazz review that hailed Imboden’s writing as, “contemporary big band composition at a high level, liberating form and harmony from prior constraints while still approachable and enjoyable for all by way of his fluidity of phrase and natural gift for creating a melody that will leave you humming for days.”
Imboden has no intention of stopping there. His goals are signaled by the title of the band’s dazzling new follow-up, Uncharted Realms. Due out May 1, 2026, the album is a scintillating evolution of the composer’s kaleidoscopic music and his tight-knit band’s fervent dedication to expanding the boundaries of the modern big band.
“I never want the band to stay in its comfort zone, or in traditional jazz waters,” Imboden says. “I always aspire to break new ground, leaving the music open to all of the influences I've taken in. I let the music go wherever it wants to go, following that direction through all of its twists and turns, holding on and enjoying the ride.”
That process is brought to life via the album’s opening track, “Flowing Currents.” Originally written for a small group, the piece is given bold new life by the Large Ensemble. Imboden’s music traces the unrelenting flow of a body of water, which maintains its momentum despite the presence of rocks in its path, unsteady terrain or forking branches. Like so much of Imboden’s music, the composition has a direct meaning and a more metaphorical one, suggesting the persistence that can carry one through life’s challenges.
“Follow the Kite,” which closes Uncharted Realms, similarly follows a circuitous and unpredictable path, this time capturing the carefree joy of a child racing after a kite, blown about by buffeting winds and waving hills. “Balcony” offers a shift in perspective, its dawning, accruing colors the result of finding a new, loftier vantage point from which to view the world. “When You Look Beyond” gazes even further, past the familiar to look into the uncertain future. The music is the album’s most eclectic, progressing from a lyrical melody to a march beat that gains in power, massing the horns for a soli section that draws from the composer’s love of classical masters like Mahler and Shostakovich - then erupting into a heavy metal-inspired explosion with a blistering guitar solo from Joel Tucker.
As Imboden implies, he rarely writes to a plan, instead allowing the music of the Sean Imboden Large Ensemble (SILE) unfold as his imagination allows. The band’s music nonetheless follows a vivid narrative path, revealing the composer’s strong narrative and expressionist instincts. Take the album’s second track, “The Gentle Giant,” which takes its title from the nickname that a local bandleader bestowed on Imboden - a reference to both the saxophonist’s height and his introspective nature. But it’s also an apt fit for the piece’s storybook aspects: it begins with a thundering, booming force that depicts the titular giant as a titanic menace wreaking havoc on the countryside; the turmoil gives way to a hushed middle section representing a moment of self-reflection, leading to the jubilant finale suggesting peace between the monster and his former victims.
That story’s happy ending, expanded to fit our real-life society, lends another meaning to Uncharted Realms. Though the album is never explicitly political, its pieces do reiterate a hope for the future as we all navigate our uncertain times. “I couldn’t help but think about the discord and strife that we have within our country these days,” Imboden explains. “It left me wondering what things could be like if we look beyond this point. I’m not dreaming of a utopia, but I do hope we can move towards a more idealistic situation. And hopefully we can get there through peaceful means.
Imboden finds a source of serenity and hope in the natural world, captured not just in the lush, wide-open sensations evoked by his music but in the artwork he selects for his releases. Uncharted Realms, like its predecessor, features a delicate painting by the artist Kara Tucker, whose vibrant bluebird in a muted, wintry landscape suggests rebirth and freedom, the bird’s ability to fly away at will suggesting an escape to new horizons.
Tucker is also the wife of SILE bassist Nick Tucker, which reiterates a theme that was central to Communal Heart and remains foundational to Imboden and his band: the idea of community, both within the band and throughout the larger support system that sustains it. “I’ve worked hard to develop the rapport and camaraderie within the band,” he says. “At this point, it feels almost like a family reunion whenever we get together. Our audience has developed at the same time - we have dedicated fans who have followed us since that first gig back in 2017, and it has continued to grow from there.”
Word is spreading beyond Indianapolis as well; along with the positive reaction to the band’s first album, a number of special guests have added their voices to the ensemble in recent years, including trumpeter Mike Rodriguez, pianist Taylor Eigsti and trombonist Ryan Keberle. Imboden is striving to take the band to festivals and bandstands across the country in the wake of the release of Uncharted Realms.
_______________