52nd Street Themes
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Description
Why is Joe Lovano's retrobop revival record different from all the other retrobop revival records? Because 52nd Street Themes, which is dominated by five Tadd Dameron tunes, shakes off the musty museum reverence of such efforts and makes a very personal statement. Lovano's two most influential mentors in his native Cleveland--his father Tony and the album's arranger Willie "Face" Smith--both played with Dameron. So when Lovano plays a Dameron piece, he's not merely studying history, he's expressing the emotional debt of a son to a father, of a student to a teacher. Moreover, the saxophonist and leader has the kind of thick, creamy tone that does justice to the seductive melodies created by Dameron, Thelonious Monk, and Billy Strayhorn. And yet Lovano is a thorough modernist; no sooner does he evoke these old tunes than he pulls them apart and puts them back together again. There are seven nonet pieces (with Smith's wonderful, Mingus-like horn charts), two sextets, a quartet, a trio, a duo, and an unaccompanied sax solo. This is what Lester Young might have sounded like had he lived long enough to become David Murray. --Geoffrey Himes
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1 out of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Very Nice CD (and that's not faint praise)Sunday, May 13, 2001
An enjoyable album from beginning to end. Great ensemble players. Swings for sure. Wonderful (if familiar) tunes. Well recorded. Lovano's one of the best saxmen today.
As others have noted, nothing terribly new or innovative here. But so what? It's still a very fine, emotionally engaging CD.
5 out of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Do yourself a favor, buy the originalsWednesday, January 17, 2001
Hey, I love and admire the Tadd Dameron, Miles and the gang, but their music is still available and generally of better quality on their original recordings. Great line-up of musicians but my collection just doesn't need another re-work of say, "Tadd's Delight." So you want to hear "If You Could See Me Now" pick up "Send in the Clowns" by Sarah Vaughn and Count Basie - it'll blow your mind. Beyond that, Joe just doesn't cut it here artistically. His sound is off and he just seems to have nothing new to add. This one got old real fast for me.
5 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:
A Well Played DiscThursday, August 17, 2000
Joe Lovano and his nonet are awesome on this CD of songs from Tadd Dameron, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and originals. The Ensemble plays really tight here and always blends to form an great sond. The only downside to this CD is that it seems repetitive at times and Lovano fries when he goes for a couple of altissimo notes. However, that is no reason not to buy this album.
9 out of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Museum PieceTuesday, August 15, 2000
I couldn't disagree more with the official Amazon review. Not only is this a museum piece, it's a museum piece par excellence. Right down to the "live to analog two-track" recording. All heads are turned to look back and re-create some fine jazz from the past. And they succeed. It is good jazz. And it's a good museum piece. If you like your jazz in a museum.
Compare it to almost anything you can think of in the same traditional jazz vein. (Clark Terry's similar efforts for example -- try "Having Fun" which also has Lewis Nash on drums) or a more forward looking example (Steve Swallow's "Always Pack Your Uniform On Top"). Something vital is missing here, a spark, an edge, some sense of challenge, of looking ahead. Even a sense of enjoying the music. This one will sell millions and we'll all hear it in department stores and on elevators for a long time.