Search - Dave Pell :: I Had the Craziest Dream (Reis)

Vintage Dave Pell-Don Fagerquist velvety smooth interaction

02/10/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Fans of the wonderful solo work done by Dave Pell, tenor sax, and Don Fagerquist, trumpet, in the old Les Brown orchestra will love this CD. The smoothly tight voicings of Dave and Don are classic. An added bonus is the inclusion of four cuts at the end by the Don Fagerquist Nonette. In case you aren't familiar with him, Don Fagerquist was an unsung giant in the world of 50s and 60s jazz. This CD shows you why."

Dave had the craziest masterpiece !

Jazzcat | Genoa, Italy Italy | 08/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is a masterpiece, I don't think four stars are enough for this unbelievable gem of the West Coast Jazz. Five stars would not be enough either. This album is ESSENTIAL. It could be the best example of small orchestra Jazz ever recorded probably together with Art Pepper Plus Eleven (Marty Paich one of the arrangers here was even there). Some peole talk about Birth of the Cool as the best small orchestra album ever recorded, I don't agree, everytime I listen BOTC, it puts me to sleep. This album instead swings hard and is a lot of fun! The sound of the orchestra is wonderful, the charts exilarating, the arrangements superb, the musicians absolutly excellent. It is a fun from its beginning to its end. The album de facto would end with "People in Love" but Capitol added 4 tunes by the Don Fagerquist Octet (Don play the trumpet in the whole Craziest Dream) in which Dave Pell played the tenor. The music is a lot similar, even if the 13 tracks of "I had the craziest dream" are simple unreachable. I think this album is just one of those unsung gems that now we HAVE to recognize in their giantness. Please, don't think that just because this album is funny, it is not serious music or it is not a fantastic, rare achievement in music. Don't do this quite common mistake! A lot of people think that just because Miles and Trane were "serious" they wrote and played better music than what West Coast guys did! It is an incredible short sighted view. West Coast jazz had some of the best Jazz musicians ever! Here there are some of them! West Coast Jazz is something absolutly special when played at this level! By the way this album has just one of the craziest and most beautiful cover in the whole history of Jazz. It is a MARVEL!

I REALLY LOVE THIS CRAZIEST DREAM DAVE HAD!!!!!!"