Search - Stan Getz, Kenny Clarke, Francy Boland :: Change of Scenes

An excellent album - full of diversity and colour.

Leone Evangelista | 09/22/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Definately one of the very best albums I have played. The scoring puts this style of big band music in a league of its own - not the usual swing you would dance to! The music undulates in tension and serenity, invoking feelings of unrest which are resolved with, what can only be described as, a wipe of the forhead and a sigh. Getz plays his sax with great diversity in tone - smooth as silk one minute, rasping the next. Any percussionists out there will surely marvel at the creativity and prominance of Kenny Clarkes drumming. The album is surely a masterpiece in musical creativity. I highly recommend you listen to this album!"

Believe the Hype

Leone Evangelista | out to lunch | 01/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bold. Beautiful. Bad. More than anything else, "Change of Scenes" is a magnet for misapprehension. As one of the Clarke-Boland Big Band's finest recordings, it is a seething, torrential, maddeningly oblique portrait of modern creative large group jazz. Its multifarious, somewhat schizophrenic character belies the sheer technical virtuosity of the composition and arrangement, among the most assured, uncompromising charts Francy Boland ever set to paper. The playing is positively superlative, even for a group of this caliber; no doubt about it, this is hardly Getz's session to dominate. This is, in fact, the album's only genuine failing point; its true brilliance is obscured by the blinding star power of its guest tenor, reading in catalogs like just another digression in a vast catalog of Getzian tangents. The truth is, "Change of Scenes" is not a Stan Getz album. This is not to discredit the recording's apparent frontman, an adventurous improviser too often pigeonholed as a proponent of more low-key aesthetics; his contribution to the album is invaluable. However, the real star is the Big Band itself. Honestly, how can any one man stand out in a group that, at different times, boasted the talents of Johnny Griffin, Sahib Shihab, Ronnie Scott, Benny Bailey, Tony Coe, Ake Persson, Jimmy Woode, Art Farmer, Albert Mangelsdorff, and Clarke and Boland themselves (to name only a few)? Getz may be the man, but he's just one in a cast of thousands here... and it's easy to get lost.



This is not an album for reactionaries. It's gorgeous without ever sounding pretty, emotional, bombastic, and sensitively constructed. This is about as far out as a large group can get without lapsing into straight-up Sun Ra territory. For something catchy, a little fluffier, try Getz's bossa nova recordings. For more subdued, less involved charts, try "Focus." However, for all its wooly, strenuous textures, dizzying rhythmic shifts, explosive leads, and wrenchingly dynamic improvisational luster, "Change of Scenes" is an essential recording. It may not depict Getz in the most flattering light, but he's playing catch up here... this is a different ballgame. For major league listeners only... or those with big ears, anyway.

"

Dittos to Chicago

Leone Evangelista | 09/27/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This music is some of the most creative big band to ever grace my cd player.I wish it was longer.The ensemble sound is great as is the recording.... and what writing!!!!!!!"