Search - George Garzone :: Alone

A thing of beauty is an everlasting thing

ornen | Norway | 08/06/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jazz fans who don't know Garzone - and many of those who think they do - are going to surprised when they hear this one!Garzone teams up with Chuck Loeb - guitar, David Kikoski - piano, Eddie Gomez - bass, Lenny White - drums, Mike Mainieri - vibraphone, Bashiri Johnson - percussion and Luciana Souza - vocals for very varied date.Garzone wanted this to be sort of a tribute album to one of his heroes, Stan Getz, the sound player above all others. The album contains mostly of songs played by Getz. Garzone says, "To me, Stan's music is all about making a melody happen with your own sound. (...) This album is about melody and sound, and feeling and the love of playing, and when people hear it, they will be hearing me."Now for the music... The opening track, "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most", a (piano) quartet take on the beautiful standard, starts this album off in a slow, comfortable way. Garzone, ever the purist, displays some of the melodic lyricism found all over this album. His sound is greater than ever here. "Night And Day" is a trio take, looser in its form, more playful, full of probing, extending the borders, testing the structures of the song. It swings really well! "Moonlight In Vermont" is another beautiful ballad, in quartet format with Chuck Loeb really playing jazz guitar! Garzone once again strikes the listener with his full, pure tenor sax sound and his great lines. "Insensatez (How Insensitive)" gets a really nice treatment, with piano, bass, drums, bossa guitar, percussion and a lovely feature of Luciana Souza on vocals, giving the song the right Stan Getz/Astrud Gilberto sound and feel. "Ballad For Lana", a Garzone original, written for his daughter, has a beautiful, memorable melody. It is recorded in quintet format, with Chuck Loeb on guitar and the great Mike Mainieri on vibes, the latter playing a wonderful solo here. "What Is This Thing Called Love" is given an upbeat treatment in the piano quartet format, really cooking. Great energy, great fun! "Alone", another Garzone original, featuring Luciana Souza performing her own lyrics to the song, is slow, latin-flavoured and downright great. Garzone proves to be a songwriter of supreme class. "Lush Life" is next, all about Garzone's main message on this album, "the melody and your sound". And that's more than enough! "Con Alma" echoes the meter Stan Getz and Chick Corea used on this song. "Nature Boy" in duet format with Garzone and Loeb is as intimate as you could wish for. "I call that an Italian message," Garzone jokes, "full of the deep emotion that my parents and relatives still respond to when they hear Mario Lanza or Pavarotti." Rounding the album off is Loeb's original, "Anytime Tomorrow", which Loeb played with Stan Getz in 1981.This is stunning music. Just stunning. Beauty and love for music and life itself is the issue here.
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