It is good to come across a performance of music which is composed not only arranged.For me, who read all of the Marlowe books many years ago the music which is linked to the titles of the movements is a journey back to the books (and films). The musicianship is first class and I count myself lucky to have come across this CD

This album is an amazing mix of instantly enthralling jazz melodies interlaced with moments of breathtaking ecstasy and dissonant agony. It is part John Coltrane, part Benny Goodman, part Duke Ellington, with a bit of demented carnival music thrown in for good measure. It is a work of sheer genius, and while the individual songs certainly stand up on their own, this is truly a full album – and everything, from the feeling, to the songs, to the overall experience, is exponentially heightened by treating Marlowe as just that, an album long work. So that’s how I approached it. The album has a couple of overarching themes and is broken up into two parts. The first section is built around the tragedy of 9/11, and is named after the restaurant on top of the World Trade Center, “Windows On The World.” This section is beautifully constructed to tell the story of the tragedy, going from calmness, to the search (“Wanted DOA: Osama, Yo Mama,”) to the figurative and literal resolutions in its last song, “Prayer for Peace.” The second section shares it’s title with the album, “Marlowe,” which refers to Philip Marlowe, the detective in the Raymond Chandler book series, a hard-nosed, hard-drinking, cynical and dark, but, when all is said and done, sweet and decent man. Berger remains true to that theme- the enchanted harmonies and big-band themed jazz place us back in that era, and tell his story, which though sometimes dark and cynical, is, in the end, beautiful and sweet. There are several distinguishing characteristics of this album. First of all, the dissonance juxtaposed with absolute beauty is a hallmark. Berger and his band continually shift through a constantly and suddenly changing stylistic stream that works uncannily well in maintaining a well planned, although sometimes disorienting, flow. The real magic here is that, even when you expect the dissonance, the instrumentation is so brilliantly written and performed that the discord hits you hard every time, both jerking you backwards while simultaneously drawing you further into the music. Second, and most impressively, Berger and the Sultans display an uncanny ability throughout the album - once again through brilliant writing and performing - to take the most pedestrian and common time signatures and make them seem like something you’ve never experienced before. It’s exceedingly difficult to make something so universal seem unique, and they have done an amazing job to make every song feel exciting and new. Additionally, this album’s continual flow is remarkable. Every song is picked up seamlessly by the next track. In fact, many songs end in mid-note, making the individual songs seem to cut out unexpectedly. While confusing if listening to the album on random, this ultimately helps in allowing us to fall into the album for its entire hour without being roused out of our excursion. This works especially well for those who wouldn’t normally listen to big band jazz. So, all in all, Cityzen has done me right again. They have provided me with another unmitigated work of true brilliance, this time by David Berger and the Sultans of Swing. While their name is misleading and pays a puzzling homage to the Dire Straits, they could easily get away with a change to the “Barons of Big Band” or the “Jesters of Jazz.” Regardless of what they’re called, a rose by any other name would sound just as sweet, and David Berger and the Sultans of Swing have provided all of us with a jazz masterpiece that we will all enjoy for years to come.

David Berger & the Sultans of Swing Marlowe Such Sweet Thunder 1003 4 stars During the early years of the Lincoln Center jazz orchestra, composer/arranger David Berger helped Wynton Marsalis decode the mysteries of Duke Ellington. On their respective new releases, Berger and Marsalis, in the manner of their mutual hero, incorporate vocabulary from the entire history of jazz toward thoroughly modern purposes. Marlowe begins with a five-part Berger suite, “Windows On The World, “ composed in response to the events surrounding September 11. The composition is a kind of Ellington homage, one drawing on the maestro’s use of orchestral color and voicings on such iconic ‘50s recordings as Such Sweet Thunder and The Queen’s Suite. There are Charles Mingus-like rhythmic touches, too, and the melodies, soli and polyphony are entirely Berger’s own, as is the underlying harmonic language that embeds the soloists in Berger’s sonic world. Hints of “Rhapsody In Blue” inform the opening strains of the more sprawling “Marlowe.” Originally conceived as a dance piece for choreographer Alvin Ailey almost 20 years ago, it has the feel of a noir soundtrack conjured up by the spirits of Mingus, Ellington, Henry Mancini and Billy May. --Ted Panken

Bring out the trench coat, dark glasses and wide-brimmed hat... it's spy jazz. With the all-out power of a full big band jazz combo, Dan Berger and the Sultans of Swing put a mischievous slither to "Marlowe." Creeping undetected through dark streets, slinking through deserted alleys, smoky bars and disappearing into the shadows of crime scenes, this album triggers the imagination with track after track of evocative numbers. With punchy trombone rascals, humming saxes, and scolding, sassy trumpets, this is an album that throws off the cape to reveal stellar composition and musicianship through and through.