Emotion & Commotion
Atco
“In lieu of trying to outgroove groove … (I thought I’d) try to go the other way (to classical),” says Beck in a promotional video for his new CD. His inner child, however, wanted to “blow down buildings with loud noise.”
Tag: classical
Reviews
Waitiki 7
Adventures in Paradise
Pass Out
The Waitiki 7 are not a revivalist group like Don Tiki — which W7 drummer Abe Lagrimas Jr. was a member of before he and longtime friend/fellow Hawaiian Randy Wong co-founded the original Waitiki quartet — but rather an exotica jam band. The septet updates the genre by augmenting the requisite vibraphone with plenty of sax and violin and often employing dead-serious jazz improvisation.
Reviews
Michael Perlowin
Spanish Steel
self-released
The journey off pedal steel guitar’s beaten path continues with Perlowin’s third release: First he proved the instrument capable of rendering classical standards with unspeakable beauty on “Firebird Suite”; then he tackled Leonard Bernstein’s multicultural “West Side Story” with such aplomb it was like hearing the masterwork anew; now he takes listeners on an auditory voyage to the Mediterranean and unearths some sublimely exotic “Spanish Steel.”
Reviews
George Gershwin
Complete Music for Piano & Orchestra
Bridge
These symphonic reimaginings of Gershwin’s crossover compositions succeed in terms of performance as well as engineering: Anne-Marie McDermott superbly conveys the serious and playful side of the material; guest conductor Justin Brown moves the Dallas Symphony Orchestra along at just the right speed, balancing restraint with vigor; and the digital recording combines with the excellent Meyerson Symphony Center acoustics to provide optimal audio.
Reviews
Béla Fleck & Edgar Meyer
The premise: an instrumental banjo-bass duo album, recorded live over the course of three tours.
