Molto Molto—Works for Jazz Orchestra by Sasha Matson Stereophile STPH-023
The Music
Concerto For Piano & Jazz Orchestra (CD Tracks 1–3; LP 1, Sides A & B)
Adam Birnbaum, piano
I: Find the Pocket 7:14
II: Distant & Sweet 7:02
III: Molto Molto 8:44
Capt. Trips 8:12 (CD Track 4; LP 1 Side B)
Steve Cardenas, guitar
Symphony No.3 For Jazz Orchestra (CD Tracks 5–8; LP 2, Sides A & B)
I: Vamp Till Ready 4:52
II: Song Torch 6:32
III: Bossa Alla Calli 5:20
IV: Life…
I got down to studying the scores Sasha sent me, learning the instrumentation, deciding on possible editing points, and wondered where the project could be recorded. I had played bass in the 1970s with what we used to call a "rehearsal band," and I still remember how loud it was. Using the minimal microphone technique I prefer for conventional classical works, we would need an enormous space, like a concert hall, for the sessions.
Capt. Trips, Matson's tribute to Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, represents a return to his roots. He grew up in Berkeley, CA, playing keyboards in a psychedelic band and listening to groups like the Grateful Dead.
"We viewed those kinds of groups as our big brothers. They were a slight generation older than we were, and we were just young teenagers absorbing all everything they had absorbed. Jerry, I think, could have been a really fine, straight-ahead jazz player. His background was mainly bluegrass and folk, but the way that he phrases stuff, the…
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On Friday, May 5, 6–9:30pm, AV Therapy of Nashua, New Hampshire, will host its annual spring event. This year, the company proudly celebrates its 10th anniversary with a Cinco De Mayo Party!
New products will be displayed in multiple demo spaces with featured guests from Luxman, Sonner, Focal/Naim, KEF, Linn, Nordost, and Paradigm/Anthem available throughout the evening to demonstrate products and answer questions from attendees. The event will be held at AV Therapy, 216 Daniel Webster Highway, Nashua, New Hampshire. RSVP by phone at (603) 759-7183 or by email at info@avtherapy.…
The Compact Disc was launched in 1982, but the four decades since have seen an alphabet soup of similar-looking shiny discs including major formats like DVD, SACD, DVD-A, and Blu-ray Audio. As each new format arrived, hardware manufacturers scrambled to keep up, developing machines that could play just about any disc you could throw at them (or, rather, insert in them). The result was a bunch of "jack of all trades" disc…