BUSELLI WALLARAB JAZZ ORCHESTRA: Heart & Soul -- The Music of Hoagy Carmichael

Buselli Wallarab Jazz Orchestra

Heart & Soul -- The Music of Hoagy Carmichael

© 2003 Buselli Wallarab Jazz Orchestra (735885259624)

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Totally new and original jazz orchestra arrangements of classic Hoagy Carmichael compositions

tracks

1 Jubilee
2 Washboard Blues
3 Lazy River
4 New Orleans
5 Rockin' Chair
6 Skylark
7 The Nearness of You
8 Heart and Soul
9 One Morning in May/I Get Along Without You Very Well
10 Stardust

notes

"With this recording the Buselli Wallarab Jazz Orchestra continues to distinguish itself as one of the premier big bands in contemporary jazz. Make no mistake -- this is a first rate orchestra with unlimited potential. The exquisite vocals of Everett Greene and Delores King-Williams are marvelous additions for this recording.

"The superb performing and improvising skills of the band are beautifully showcased in this collection of Hoagy Carmichael compositions. Expertly arranged by Brent Wallarab, these new settings are filled with wonderful surprises -- a subtle alteration of form here, a clever reharmonization there. The orchestration, while indebted to the late Gil Evans, is strikingly original in conception and execution."

From the liner notes by
David Baker,
Distinguished Professor,
Chairman of Jazz Studies Department,
Indiana University




"Heart & Soul," the Buselli Wallarab Jazz Orchestra's second CD (3 1/2 out of 4 stars), was recorded last fall in Bloomington, not long after the program was premiered there at the end of August. It consists of almost a dozen Carmichael songs arranged for the 16-piece BWJO by artistic director Brent Wallarab, who founded the band with co-leader Mark Buselli in 1994.

As clever as Wallarab is with the melodies of Carmichael songs, he recognizes that only singers have given them longevity decade after decade. So the CD reaches a high plateau with a suite of songs linked to imply a story of one love affair -- its joy, trials and dissolution. From the wistful anticipation of "Skylark" through the cascade of reminiscence in "Stardust," the songs glide by in vivid interpretations by Indianapolis' own Everett Greene and Delores King-Williams of Washington, D.C.

The placement of instrumental solos supports the suite's shifting moods: King-Williams' idealistic "Skylark" is cogently undergirded by Luke Gillespie's piano, and "The Nearness of You," seductively rendered in Green's bass-baritone, gets a little extra ardor from an adjacent Wallarab trombone solo.

As arranger, Wallarab is never haphazard. He drops in poignant phrases of "The Nearness of You" now and then as the suite progresses. King-Williams' exuberant "Heart and Soul" has its childishness underlined by some instrumental mumbletypeg at the end. The overlapping of "One Morning in May" with "I Get Along Without You Very Well" is an inspired way of rendering a romance's tensions, until the whole experience dissolves in "Stardust."

--Jay Harvey, Reviewing "Heart & Soul" in the Indianapolis Star (2/21/03)

reviews

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  • Wonderful big band and vocal versions of Carmichael classics.
    author: Jim Strain

    While it is hard to characterize the BWJO style, it is closest to late Henry Mancini and Al Cobine - big band, interesting arrangements of Hoagy Carmichael classics. Add to the mix Everett Greene, who is a superb vocalist, and Ms. King, likewise, and you have a CD that we play in our quiet time together. Highly recommended. Jim

  • Outstanding!
    author: Thomas Treichler, Switzerland

    These gems from the pen of Hoagy Carmichael are presented in a slightly modernised vein by this superb big band. Colorful and subtle but nevertheless swinging charts. I especially like "Rockin' chair". Easily recommended.

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