Friday, April 13, 2007

Music I Liked And Didn't - 4/10/07 - 4/13/06


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No Adds Of New Releases


Archival Additions -

BROWN, ROB (QUARTET): The Big Picture CD (Marge) - While I was out on the road, I scored a copy of this rare (as if Rob Brown leads a lot of sessions and any of them are issued in large editions?!?) CD from the Rob Brown Quartet on France’s Marge label. This release contains six excellent and stylistically diverse compositions by Brown, who is supported on this recording by top notch trumpeter Roy Campbell and the all-world rhythm section of Hamid Drake and William Parker. While I’ve always enjoyed Brown’s unique tone and distinctive style as a player (and he is excellent in all settings on both alto sax and flute on this date), I’ve been somewhat less impressed with the majority of his recordings as a leader which featured his overly (in my humble opinion) academic free bop compositions. On “The Big Picture”, however, Brown’s compositions (and the resultant music created by the ensemble) strike an excellent balance between explorations of improvisational freedom and graceful themes. Personal favorites include the two tracks which best exemplify Brown’s increasing powers of compositional skill “Dawning” and “Wyoming Song”, the alto spotlight "Trio Unsprung", and Brown’s showcase for flute (a blues theme being an unusual, but, in this case, successful vehicle for flute) “Blues Thicket”. This is certainly my favorite release by Brown as a leader since “Breath Rhyme” (which was released almost 20 years ago!) and I‘ll look forward with great anticipation to see if future releases will continue to expand upon the promising sonic developments of “The Big Picture”.


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Running Count For The Year

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Did Not Add 11/18%

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