Music Review | ‘Sketches of Gil Evans’
The News Review:
- Music Review | ‘Sketches of Gil Evans’
- Will Ferguson pulls a fast one in ‘Spanish Fly’
- Charity Benefits From Valley Wine Growers
- Queen: A Day At The Races : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone
- Music Review | Andy Bey
Music Review | ‘Sketches of Gil Evans’
New York Times – Oct 27, 2007
n the other hand the work Evans did before he became famous the arrangements he wrote for Thornhill’s big band in the 1940s tense slow-moving mysterious and wry was dealt with seriously by an expanded 27-piece version of the Jazz at Lincoln Center rchestra. So were parts of the records “New Bottle ld Wine” “Gil Evans & Ten” “Great Jazz Standards” and “ut of the Cool” wherein Evans rewrote Lester Young Jelly Roll Morton Horace Silver Leadbelly Weill and others. There are fairly serious jazz enthusiasts who don’t know this music very well and it deserved the time it got: the sudden traffic of tailgating trombones and New rleans parade beats in “Sister Sadie”; the hopalong western-movie atmosphere and floating feeling of “Happy Stranger”; the long gliding notes worked into swing in “Nobody’s Heart. ” And Weill’s “Bilbao Song” conducted by Andy Farber was magnificent its melody moving in a different time from the drum pattern the bass line bumping over continuous tuba and flute notes. What people do know of course are Evans’s collaborations with Davis. If you’re going to block out the second half of Evans’s career it becomes more urgent to get this music in great shape and it wasn’t quite there. These are not casual pieces; they’re more like shrewd and brilliant concertos for trumpet in which the strangely hued orchestral arrangements finally serve as background.
Will Ferguson pulls a fast one in ‘Spanish Fly’
CTV.ca – Oct 27, 2007
But really I construct very carefully where they’re from and once you get the character then their voice takes over. I knew that I wanted to contrast Jack so you’ll notice that Jack is big tall unsophisticated and very very intelligent — but not street smart. Virgil is small thin fluid — he’s jazz music. He’s more sophisticated and he’s street smart but he’s actually not that bright. He mispronounces words he can’t do math that well. So I wanted to really contrast Jack to Virgil.
Charity Benefits From Valley Wine Growers
ABC30.com – Oct 27, 2007
The event lets people sample award-winning wines from the San Joaquin Valley while they check out local art and listen to jazz music from local musicians. This is the 3rd annual cornucopia and a portion of the proceeds is going to the American Heart Association. All Rights Reserved.
Queen: A Day At The Races : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone – Oct 27, 2007
Genesis is closer to the mainstream of the form and far superior to either Queen or Starcastle. Their assemblage of elements is more truly experimental than the simple recycling the others do or at least it’s more interesting. The most noticeable ingredients are British folk King Crimson-style space music and lately with the ascendance of vocalist (and drummer) Phil Collins jazz rock. The last is abetted by the recent addition of percussionist Chester Thompson a veteran of Weather Report and Frank Zappa’s Mothers. Genesis is more listenable though mostly because its music is prettier. Its gracefulness is derived from British folk in somewhat the same way that Jethro Tull’s was. nstage the guitars of Steve Hackett and Michael Rutherford are dominant generating a kind of fire that’s as close as such bands come to rock & roll of the old order.
Music Review | Andy Bey
New York Times – Oct 27, 2007
Bey was just beginning to receive his due a decade ago after the sleeper success of a marvelous album called “Ballads Blues & Bey. ” Now rightly understood as one of the great jazz singers of our time he was then emerging from a long obscurity and embarking on a bright new era. He hasn’t changed much as he illustrated on Thursday by performing the first four tracks of “Ain’t Necessarily So” in sequence. His voice is still an extraordinary instrument capable of foggy depths penetrating highs and a sort of mezzo-falsetto that stretches his supple baritone into the alto range. He has an equally broad command of timbre and gives himself a lot of space to work with often slowing tempos to a crawl. As employed on the Gershwin standard that gives the album its title that strategy yielded a bluesy languor rich in melismatic filigree… ” Performing unaccompanied he took his time phrasing in the fluctuating cadence of an internal monologue. Perhaps it wasn’t on the set list but the song felt just right: a dose of naked vulnerability that doubled as a triumph. Andy Bey performs a free lunchtime concert on Tuesday at J&R Music World 23 Park Row across from City Hall Park Lower Manhattan; (212) 238-9000 jr.