I was pleased to receive
this disc for review. It was sent to
me by Gabriel Jackson, a good friend
of the vivid, virtuosic and sensitive
Riga Saxophone Quartet.
The deep and mellow
arrangement of Robert C. Jones' Amazing
Grace is dawn-awakening jazz.
It arises from a ruminative dream with
increasingly assertive metropolitan
solos. The five movement suite Song
and Dance is by Carleton
Macy (b. 1944). This is cool, light,
faintly Gallic, jazzy, sometimes minimalistic
as in the Ouverture. Then comes
a soporific Tango held firm by
the tendrils of sleep. Caravane
has a sinuous mesmerising North African
rhapsodic flavour. It's interesting
that this suite encloses three slow-dominance
movements between the darting energy
of Ouverture and the aggression
of Swing - both with populist
infusions. Rusty Dedrich (b.
1918) provides The Modern
Art Suite with five movements entitled:
Impressionism, Purism,
Mysticism, Surrealism
and Realism. Impressionism
is no melting watercolour; in fact
this made me wonder about how real the
connection was between title and music
- jut a conveniently catchy set of names?
Purism is an understated down-and-dirty
strut. Mysticism is in step with
the music: a fine harmonic miasma and
droop. Surrealism is positive
and sanguine. The insistent and catchy
Realism recalls the minimalistic
style of Macy's Ouverture.
Rhythm and Blues
by Gabriel Jackson (b.1962)
is made up of little cells reiterated.
It is an engaging piece - fragmented
but full of tension and with some superbly
rasp-ratchety deep music for the baritone
sax (tr. 12, 2.43). Pedro Itturalde's
Suite Héllenique is in
four movements. The opening Kalamatianos
and the final Kritis have
a sultry, exotic, folksy lilt, whereas
Funky is cosmopolitan - more
Athens night club tribute to New York
than anything else. Valse sets
a surprisingly breathless pace for such
a dance with little jazzy paraphs along
the way.
The 'sign-off' piece
is A Night in Tunisia by John
'Dizzy' Gillespie (1917-1993) arranged
by Rainer Muller-Iron. This is mainstream,
wild and woolly, free-ranging, chattering
and with a strong bass sax accent.
This makes a pleasant
change. Not to be missed for anyone
who loves lighter music for the saxophone
- especially those well disposed to
jazz.
Rob Barnett