Volume 8 Issue 7 - April 2003

includes a B&W recording from 1961
with Pierre Moriteux conducting the
LSO in Dukas' L 'Apprenti Sorcier.
Interesting, but offering barely a hint
of that conductor's exceptional interpretive
skills. Still, better to have it
than not.
Other DVD-Vs in the same
release · were the Beethoven Cello
Sonatas with Rostropovich and
Richter; Menuhin playing concertos
by Beethoven, Mozart and Bruch;
and a recital by Regine Crespin with
bonus tracks by Denise Duval.
Bruce Surtees
Mengelberg conducts Wagner,
Humperdinck, Richard Strauss
and Mahler
Concertgebouw and New York
Philharmonic-Symphony
Orchestras
NAXOS Historical 8.110855
For examples of pure orchestral
power, which doesn't necessarily
mean volume, you must listen to this
exemplary new release from Naxos
Historical. The Preludes to Tannhauser
and Lohengrin, recorded by
English Columbia in 1932 and 1927
respectively, define 'powerhouse'!
Mengelberg habitually took a lot of
extra time tuning and balancing an
orchestra with clearly heard results.
Mark Obert-Thorn's restoration of
the seven tracks is outstanding!
Bruce Surtees
Jazz at the College of the eacific,
Vol. 2
Dave Brubeck Quartet
Fantasy OJCCD-1076-2
Creative jazz and popular success
can go together and Dave Brubeck is
living proof - an artist who never
watered down or altered his music
in order to gain a wide audience.
Creative booking - he had one of the
first groups to play regularly on college
campuses - and the necessary
spot of luck here and there, resulted
in one of the few jazz groups to
achieve great popularity and to this
day it is one of the few household
names in jazz.
This album of previously unreleased
performances is from one of
those early campus concerts, recorded
at the College Of The Pacific iri
December of 1953, the same concert
that produced the original Jazz at the
College of the Pacific (Fantasy 3223/
OJCCD-047-2). It wears well and is,
I believe, one of the best-recorded
performances by his long-time musical
companion, Paul Desmond. His
delicate, introspective playing on
Stardust, is a thing of beauty.
Desmond's phrasing is full of
unexpected delights, twists and turns.
His harmonic sense is unmatched by
any other horn player I can think of,
but there is no simple running the
changes here; this is a melodically
inventive mind running on all
cylinders. And bassist Ron Crotty
and drummer Joe Dodge propel
things along very nicely, thank you.
Brubeck's classical training is
evident inlet's Fall in love. He studied
at Mills College with Darius
Milhaud and like his teacher, the use
of polyrhythms 'and polytonality
(playing in two keys at once) are ·a
hallmark' of Brubeck's music. There
are those who find his approach too
"scholarly" and even unswinging;
but the musical joys of this CD far
outweigh any of that criticism. It is
clear from their obvious rapport that
he and Desmond were two musical
minds destinel:l to find each other.
This was one of the great musical
marriages in jazz.
Jim Galloway
Soul ville
Ben Webster Quintet
Verve314521449-2
Was there ever a more lyrical-sounding
tenor saxophone in all of jazz?
The Webster trademarks are all
there on this CD - the big, full-sounding
tone with the underlying fire and
passion, the breathy notes and distilled
phrases, all the stuff of which
the Ben Webster legend is made. The
quintet recordings were originally
issued on Lp and no doubt aficionados
already have them, but this really is
worth adding to the CD collection.
Webster staked his claim to greatness
with the Ellington band between
1939 and 1943, but these small group
i}erformances from 1957 provide the
ideal intimate setting, with Oscar
Peterson proving yet again what a
great accompanist he is; Ray Brown
on bass and Herb Ellis on guitar
make their usual magic, and Stan
Levey adds just the right touch on
drurris. A straight-ahead swinger like
Webster couldn't ask for any better.
It is difficult to choose favourites,
but Time On My Hands and Where
Are You? are stand-outs for me,
perfect late-night soft lights listening.
(Beulah, peel me a grape.) The CD
has an added bonus in that there are
three extra tracks in addition to the
original Lp selections, and they
feature Ben Webster on piano! As a
young musician it was his first instrument
and he demonstrates that he
was no slouch as a stride piano player.
Try it - you 'II like it.
Jim Galloway
The Three C's
Benny Carter, Bill Coleman,
Henri Chaix
Sackville SKCD2-2058
Genuine small group swing music is
a too-rare commodity these days,
and the release of some new material
by master musicians is welcome.
Visiting American jazz giant Benny
Carter, and the expatriate underrecognized
great Bill Coleman, each
share the stage with Swiss pianist/
bandleader Henri Chaix (pronounced
'shecks') on "The Three C's".
Altoist/composer Benny Carter
was 61 years old, re-establishing himself
as a performer, rather than as a
composer/orchestrator which had
occupied him for decades. Concert
producer Arild Wideroe signed hirii.
for concerts with Chaix's octet in
Lausanne, Geneva and Baden. This
last event on November 9, 1968 was
taped in stereo by Swiss radio, and
the results are finally out of the vaults,
offering 43 minutes of swing sounds.
Four of the seven selections are
delightful Benny Carteroriginals, and
he is featured with just the rhythm
section on two standards, I Can't Get
Started and Body and Soul. The other
standard, 'S Wonderful, uses the
whole band. While the visitor is of
course centre stage, Henri Chaix, a
formidable musician, shines as both
soloist and accompanist: his Basielike
support work with bassist Alain
Du Bois and drummer Romano Cavicchiolo
are world class. Tenor man
Michel Pilet is solid, too.
Trumpeter Bill Coleman was
twice a member of Benny Carter's
big band, in the mid- '30s and again
in the early '40s, but he preferred
life in Europe, living in France in the
last half of the 1930s and again from
1948 until his death in 1981. As a
result, he is less well known on this
side of the Atlantic than he should be.
The thirty minutes of his Geneva.
studio recordings for Swiss radio .
included here should gain some
attention for his elegant, yet swinging
trumpet, and his comfortable vocals
(one in French!). On these '57 and
'58 mono recordings Chaix' s quintei
is heard. With a four-piece rhythm
section, and Michel Pilet' s big tenor,
Coleman's light tone, often with
mute, smoothly glides along.
Tunes featured include Wrap Your
Troubles In Dreams, Blue Turning
Grey ... , When My Sugar Walks
Down The Street and the French
blues! N'Embrassez Pas Ma Femme.
Ted O'Reilly
INDIE LIST
Mystery Theatre
Erosonic
Victo cd 085
Erosonic's new release "Mystery
Theatre" illustrates that when two
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