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Amazon.com:
This CD is the long-awaited follow-up to jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis's 1986 debut, Romances for Saxophone with the English Chamber conducted by Andrew Litton. Since that project, Marsalis has led his own jazz combos and worked with The Grateful Dead and Sting. On this recording, Marsalis's superb soprano and alto sax are buoyed by the wonderful, conductorless Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble that was featured on Herbie Hancock's Gershwin's World. Marsalis's clear sound and mature phrasing imbue French classics like Ravel's "Pavane pour une infante défunte," Debussy's ragtime-rhythmed "Golliwogg's Cake-Walk," and Fauré's "Pie Jesu" with verve and vitality. Marsalis navigates the New World syncopations of Darius Milhaud's "Saudades do Brasil" with the same ease he displays on the composer's jazz-inspired ballet, "La création du monde." On Jacques Ibert's showcase for the alto saxophone, "Concertino da camera," Marsalis's negotiation of its florid melody and his swing-spiced cadenza show that the innovations of jazz improvisation have enriched and extended the classical tradition. --Eugene Holley Jr. | | | | |
Average Rating : 
Rating :  - Beautiful Creation
This is a beautiful performance from beginning to end. I'm not a hardcore classical devotee or dissecting musicologist so, with regard to this disk, I am in no way compelled to use the terms lackluster or bland. I recall a story of a time when Charles Ives' father once told him, to "disregard the sound and listen to the music." Marsalis plays here with warmth, sincerity and care. This was, in no way, a boring experience for me. I think Marsalis' tone is quite beautiful and his technique very much up to task, if not superb, and I applaude his colleagues for their insight and generosity in his support. I can't say that that these pieces should be played this way or that or if it matters, only that they sounded great to me. As the television detective Monk occassionally says, in speaking of his acute awareness of small details, "It's a blessing .......and a curse." I think may apply to some music reviewers on occasion as well.
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