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Joe Syrian, the veteran drummer and leader of the Motor City Jazz Octet, understands this dialogue - and their new album, Secret Message, out November 15 via Circle 9 Records - is an effervescent toast to elite popular music in all it's forms, from standards like Ray Henderson's "Bye, Bye Blackbird" and Cole Porter's "Night and Day" to pop/rock classics like the Beatles' "Here, There and Everywhere," Leon Russell's "This Masquerade." and Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing." "Popular music resonates with people and works for many audiences," Syrian says simply. "We just take that and mold it to our unique framework." And he has the best men for the job in pianist Adam Birnbaum, guitarist Paul Bollenback, acoustic and electric bassist Lorin Cohen, trombonist Doug Beavers, alto and baritone saxophonist Carl Maraghi, and trumpeter and flugelhornist Nick Marchionne. (Tenor saxophonist Tim Reis, and tenor saxophonist and bass clarinetist Dave Reikenberg, each appear on a handful of tracks.) Along with Birnbaum and Beavers, Dave Hanson, John Fedchock, David Caffey, and David Berger demonstrate their impressive arrangement acumen. - "It's kind of a little big band, having eight guys. Everyone is more exposed musically," Syrian says of the Motor City Jazz Octet, a rotating lineup of players not only from Detroit, but now all over the country. "But there are enough instruments there to really make good music, beyond just good solos. When everyone's playing together, it feels like a large band. So as a musical concept, I just love the size of it." - For Secret Message, Syrian programmed "common tunes that most people would know - but with our musical twist to it." The disc kicks off