On Duke's Birthday
| On Duke's Birthday | ||||
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| Studio album by Mike Westbrook Orchestra | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | HatOLOGY | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
5 |
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running time |
74:34 |
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Fiachra Trench, Werner X. Uehlinger |
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Studio (s) |
Le Grand Theater, Maison de la Culture, Amiens |
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On Duke's Birthday (subtitled: Dedicated to the memory of Duke Ellington ) is a jazz album by the Mike Westbrook Orchestra that was performed live at a concert on May 12, 1984 at the Grand Theater, Maison de la Culture in Amiens, on the tenth anniversary of Ellington's death was recorded. It first appeared as a double album on HatHut Records ; In 2007 it was re-released on CD.
The album
Right at the beginning of his remarks in the liner notes , the author Art Lange points out the possible misunderstanding that the title of the album could trigger: “ On Duke's Birthday is neither an exercise in nostalgia nor a salute to the swing era or even the reincarnation of the Big Volume in a contemporary way. Nor is it recycling of Ellington's riffs , licks , tones, or textures, and - although, ultimately, Ellington's influence is so vast and all-encompassing that it is nigh on impossible to be completely free from Duke's ideas - it is clearly Mike Westbrook's own aspirations, and Methods “heard on the album.
Ian Carr commented on Mike Westbrook that he gives his colleague Duke Ellington a party on April 29th every year on his birthday; and this big band album is his very personal homage to the master. On the tenth anniversary of Duke Ellington's death, Westbrook received the commission for this anniversary from the organizations Le Temps du Jazz in Amiens and Jazz en France in Angoulême ; the work was performed on May 12th in Amiens and on June 7th in Angoulême.
Mike Westbrook himself commented on the album in 1985: "I tried to create a harmonious language, to connect the topics with each other, to merge things harmoniously and melodically, and so there are cross-references everywhere." Lange sees the slowly evolving topics of the Albums 'points of contact with Gil Evans ' The Monday Night Orchestra
The concert recording begins with a simple theme that Mike Westbrook introduces as a soloist on the piano (“Checking in At Hotel Le Prieuré”); at the end of the concert it is taken up again in "Music Is ...". The violinist Dominique Pifarély plays a solo framed by the wind section, which relates to Ray Nance's solo interludes in the Duke Ellington Orchestra ; finally horn and violin in Call and Response style of playing. The suite-like “On Duke's Birthday I” opens with a solo by the cellist Georgie Born ; the piece has its roots in the “bittersweet, pastoral” (Lange) English folk tradition, which was thematized by composers such as Frederick Delius , George Butterworth , Ernest John Moeran and Gerald Finzi . After a seething ensemble game, a meditative, dark bamboo flute solo by Kate Westbrook follows . The theme is reminiscent of the early Ellington suites “ The Mooche ”, “ Black and Tan Fantasy ” and “ East St. Louis Toodle-Oo ”.
The piece turns into "East Stratford Too-Doo", which begins melancholy and spherical and finally flows into a calm, warm big band atmosphere; the main soloists here are Pifarély and Chris Biscoe on baritone saxophone, and at the end Katie Westbrook and Phil Minton as singers. "East Stratford Too Doo" is a thematic answer to Ellington's structures in " Such Sweet Thunder ".
"On Duke's Birthday II" begins with a slow thematic Introduction by Mike Westbrook, recorded by bassist Steve Cook and violinist Pifarély. Highlights are Chris Biscoe on alto saxophone, Brian Godding on electric guitar and Phil Minton on stuffed trumpet, which is supposed to be reminiscent of Rex Stewart with its wah wah effects . The concluding “Music Is ...” takes up the themes of the concert once again in summary form; Pifarely introduces the theme, accompanied by pianist Westbrook and bassist Steve Cook, until finally the band starts slidingly, first trombonist Danilo Terenzi , until finally the whole brass section sets dynamic accents and introduces the finale, which Phil Minton and Kate Westbrook sing: " Music Is .. ".
Rating of the album
Thom Jurek wrote in Allmusic that On Duke's Birthday was in many ways Mike Westbrook's most enjoyable album. It's difficult to describe the music, but it's just witty. Westbrook wrote a suite of five thematic and musical conversations for a larger ensemble. All are individual pieces in a well-structured form, as we know them from Westbrook's other work, thematically still comparable to Gil Evans' impressionist ensembles.
Richard Cook and Brian Morton consider On Duke's Birthday one of the best albums in the bandleader's and composer's discography and gave it the highest rating of four stars. Even Ian Carr raised in Jazz - Rough Guide the album as one of the most important in Westbrook's discography forth.
John Fordham rated the album four out of five stars in the Guardian in 2007 . He pointed out that this album not only confirms the depth of Westbrook's jazz roots, but also shows how efficiently he can conjure up the spirits of his greatest heroes without imitating them.
The titles
- Mike Westbrook Orchestra: On Duke's Birthday - Dedicated to the memory of Duke Ellington (HatOLOGY 635)
- "Checking in At Hotel Le Prieuré" 8:34 am
- "On Duke's Birthday I" 16:10
- "East Stratford Too-Doo" 9:08 pm
- "On Duke's Birthday II" 16:10
- "Music Is ..." 12:29
All compositions are by Mike Westbrook.
swell
- Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz. 1800 bands and artists from the beginning until today. 2nd, expanded and updated edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-476-01892-X .
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .
- Type Lange: Liner Notes
- On Duke's Birthday at Allmusic (English)
Remarks
- ^ Art Lange, Liner Notes
- ^ Ian Carr, p. 686.
- ↑ Westbrook, cit. after Lange, liner notes
- ↑ Thom Jurek in Allmusic
- ↑ See Cook & Morton, pp. 1354 ff.
- ^ Ian Carr, p. 686.
- ^ Fordham: On Duke's Birthday