Album Notes

The piece \"Flaming Spirit\" is actually a double concerto for clarinet, piano and string orchestra (recorded here in a chamber version - string quartet, second \'cello and bass). It contains material which had been extracted to form eight different jazz compositions featured on various previous Richard Drexler CDs. Here the material is recombined and expanded, including some open sections for improvisation, into a medium (in 7/4 time)/slow/fast arrangement of three movements played without pause. The concerto has been also orchestrated for traditional big band instead of strings, and for Richard\'s Lobster Ensemble (17 instruments). This rendition in the studio is its first, predating any live performance.