Barney Kessel Plus Big Band - Bossa Nova

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 30:14
Size: 69,7 MB
Art: Front

(2:29)  1. Love For Sale
(2:43)  2. String Of Pearls
(2:39)  3. They Can't Take That Away From Me (From Shall We Dance)
(2:10)  4. Summertime
(2:47)  5. You Came A Long From St. Louis
(2:21)  6. Muskrat Ramble
(2:06)  7. Heartaches
(2:29)  8. It Ain't Necessarily So
(2:36)  9. Jada
(2:23) 10. Sweet Georgia Brown
(3:03) 11. Tumbling Tumbleweeds
(2:23) 12. Bye Bye Blues

"It has been my desire to create a new sound which people will want to hear over and over, a sound which they will be able to understand immediately and to which they will be unable to resist dancing with or without partner" writes renowned Jazz guitarist Barney Kessel (1921–2004) himself in the liner notes of his album Bossa Nova, released in 1961 on Reprise Records. And rest assured that Kessel in tandem with arranger Bob Florence fulfills this desire time and again, whether it is fueled by his own needs or the craving of his fans. On Bossa Nova, though, this desire remains unfulfilled, but what may seem to you as a first tentative attempt of panning the album could not be farther from my endeavor. The 12 renditions Kessel presents with his big band are indeed highly innovative in that they transform and reinvent classic material and pour it into the Bossa Nova mould. No particular style can escape Kessel, whether it is Blues, Mambo or piano arrangements in general, everything on this album is driven by the Bossa Nova rhythm, gorgeous brass blasts of the friendly and embracing kind and Kessel's work on the lead guitar. 

Strangely enough, it is his guitar work that remains unexpectedly pale compared to the furious brass rivers. What works well in trio or sextet form  especially so on his Exotica work of 1963 with the less than optimal title Contemporary Latin Rhythms is not overly enjoyable here. Bossa Nova and Latin fans will not mind Kessel's weaker guitar, maybe even reversely see it as an added bonus in-between the interplay of the surfaces. However, his fans probably want to feast on the guitar God's riffs and eclectic patterns, and these are simply not good enough on this album. That said, I will write in greater detail about this perception in the final paragraph, so do not let these shadows distract you from the sunny side of this album, as there are enough gorgeous tidbits and intersections on board to even lure the Exotica fan..... More   

http://www.ambientexotica.com/exorev231_barneykessel_bn/

Bossa Nova

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