The heights of composition and improvisation
Stephen Elman | Brighton, MA USA | 01/03/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you enjoy powerful and sophisticated music without worrying about what genre it falls in, get this recording.
Marketing this reissue as a Bill Evans release is understandable - Bill's performance on "All About Rosie" by itself is worth the price. But this is far more than a Bill Evans record. Bill was just one of the brilliant players in a small ensemble assembled to perform pieces that combined elements of formal composition and improvisation, ranging from completely-composed works to ones that allow great freedom to the players. The group includes saxophonists Hal McKusick (tenor) and John LaPorta (alto), trombonist Jimmy Knepper, trumpeters Art Farmer and Louis Mucci, vibraphonist Teddy Charles, guitarist Barry Galbraith, bassist Joe Benjamin, drummer Teddy Sommer, and some of New York's best studio players on flute, bassoon, French horn and harp.
The recordings were made in June 1957, so the fiftieth anniversary of these performances is upon us - nonetheless, they sound incredibly contemporary.
Each work has much to recommend it. Four of them will pay back dozens of relistenings:
George Russell's "All About Rosie" is one of his consummate early achievements - it's so swinging, so tuneful, so seemingly effortless, so jazzy, and yet it has a three-movement form, carefully worked out themes based on a simple children's song motif, great contrapuntal writing (later stolen by Oliver Nelson for his arrangement of "Down By the Riverside"), and a masterful control of instrumental color. The solos are fine, but Evans's is beyond belief. Russell puts the whole weight of the composition on Bill's shoulders at a crucial moment, stopping the ensemble dead for an unaccompanied piano spot where Bill has to carry the energy forward and improvise back into the written material. It's a defining moment of genius.
Gunther Schuller's "Transformation" is a tremendously exciting six minutes, dense but beautifully orchestrated, fully "classical" (whatever that means) and yet filled with a jazz spirit. Incidentally, Schuller's creative spirit is very much over this entire project, since he conducts most of the pieces.
"All Set" has the distinction of being one of the very few mature works by Milton Babbitt that incorporates jazz elements, which were an early influence on his musical development. It sounds at first as though it is completely improvised, a "free jazz" experiment, but every single thing is notated. It's witty (if you know where to look for the jokes) and fascinating - a great introduction to one of the 20th century's most brilliant musical thinkers.
"Revelations" is unmistakably by Charles Mingus. The ensemble does a very good job of getting the right feel, even though only two of the players(Knepper and Charles) had the experience of working with Mingus. It misses some of the looseness of a true Mingus band, but makes up for it by being much more ambitious as a composition and more carefully worked out than the tunes Mingus wrote for his own groups.
The other two pieces - Jimmy Giuffre's "Suspensions" and Harold Shapero's "On Green Mountain" - don't achieve the heights of the other four, but they are beautifully played.
"
Incredible Music!!
B. J Robbins | La Quinta, CA United States | 12/26/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The other reviewer has said it all. This music is beyond categorization. Certainly it is jazz, but back in the fifties there was a movement called "Third Stream" jazz, which tried to meld classical music with jazz. This CD is the best of that genre. Proof: after 50 years it sounds as fresh as the day it was written. The compositions and musicianship are impeccable and are a joy to listen to. Also, a challenge to listen to. Definitely not "smooth jazz", this music demands the listener pay attention to it. If he/she does, the rewards are endless. Shapero's "On Green Mountain" and Russell's "All About Rosie" are my personal favorites. Each composition has a different character, different personality, different attitude, almost like people.
Any lover of jazz HAS TO HAVE this CD. It is worth its weight in gold!"
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1