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The Orchestra: New Skies
by Jack Bowers
In his liner notes to this second album by The Orchestra, renowned composer / arranger / trombonist Bob Brookmeyer writes that the Copenhagen-based ensemble “performs one of the rare functions in music -- they play as if they love the music and each other, and they give life to the written page, the key element in expression.” Brookmeyer then admits to a certain bias, as six of its members (including conductor / composer / trumpeter Jesper Riis and composer / ...
read moreThe Orchestra: Look Away Now
by Keiran Smalley
The dramatic role of soundtracks in movies is undisputed. Try to imagine Jaws without the scary “here comes a big shark” theme, or a horror film without the spooky church-organ or theremin. Very few movies, such as Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, have challenged this approach, proving that you can build tension without music. In contemporary music it has become somewhat vogue to produce soundtracks for imaginary movies. Judging by recent efforts, it seems that the exponents of ...
read moreThe Orchestra: Noxx
by Jack Bowers
For those who’d rather chew and digest their helpings of big–band Jazz slowly and carefully instead of gulping down a series of low–calorie riffs and shout choruses, here’s a lavish spread ably prepared by The Orchestra from beautiful Copenhagen, Denmark. The seven compositions, all by members of the band or director / tenor saxophonist Henrik Frisk, have enough meat on them to give anyone’s molars, incisors and bicuspids a vigorous workout. None is especially hard to swallow, nor are they ...
read moreThe Orchestral Music of Jack Gallagher, Beautifully Performed by the LSO
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Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
Present-day American composer Jack Gallagher may not be a name that is heard often in the music chatter that flows through the internet and, alas to a lesser extent these days, the printed medium. But it probably should be. The composer was kind enough to send me a copy of this Orchestral Music (Naxos 8.559652) and I am very glad he did. The first thing that hit me was the lush beauty of the London Symphony Orchestra's performance of his ...
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Ahmad Jamal Strikes up the Orchestra
Source:
All About Jazz
Can this really be the fifth season of Jazz at Lincoln Center at Rose Hall? Already there are young people filling seats at the Rose Theater who probably feel that JaLC has been around forever, and even take it for granted. They'd probably be amazed to hear that listeners in the 1940s thought it was a big deal whenever jazz made it to one of the major concert halls, like Carnegie or Town Hall, and probably couldn't imagine a world ...
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The French Horn, That Wild Card of the Orchestra
Source:
Michael Ricci
The modern French horn, with its complex tubing and finger keys at the center, has come a long way from its hunting party origins. Orchestral instruments don't come more treacherous than the French horn, either for the musicians who play it, or, when the going gets rough, for the listeners who find themselves within earshot. Sometimes you wonder how the instrument found its way from the hunting lodge to the orchestra. At the Mostly Mozart Festival in recent weeks, the ...
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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson