Search - Hugh Ragin Trumpet Ensemble :: Fanfare & Fiesta

Another Bypassed Trumpet Wonder.

C. Rich | 08/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After emerging from my exile cave behind the Cascade curtain in preposterous Seattle, I wondered, 'How's Hugh Ragin doing these days?'



So I pulled him up here and happily bought Fanfare and Fiesta.



Whatta thrill. Justin-Time has to be some Canadian counterpart to the legendary lamented work of Giovannini Bonandrini, owner of Black Saint/Soulnote.



This is completely wonderful to anyone who likes this instrument.



Hugh has been around for years and became an important participant in the majestic work of the AACM including some demanding projects with Anthony Braxton, winner of a MacArthur. Hugh'll probably be due for one some day too.



He has had an impressive exposure to all sorts of work including a stint with the legendary Fred Wesley, James Brown's best arranger. He has also been in on unusual projects with a strange noise group, The Mnemonists, who must be neighbors in Colorado Springs.



This thing hums contrary to the weak review above. All participants are aces. The presence of Clark Terry is particularly spectacular and the odd skit on 'Spacemen' is classic Terry leg pulling.



The title cut is the perfect foil to the more baroque stylings of Miles' 'Sketches of Spain' and the Lester Bowie tributes are impeccable.



Hugh is just one of many keepers of the real momentum and legacy of this wonderous idiom who got swept aside when a pudgy brat from New Orleans, Wynton Marsalis, wowed a bunch of fern bar yuppies with noise that was better done by Lee Morgan and Clifford Brown, years before Wynton was able to hold a trumpet.



If you want to know about real jazz and not a tourist simulacra, you will do well to find these people like Hugh and Bill Dixon or Roy Campbell jr and I'll surely do my part."