The Dutch Jazz Orchestra - You Go To My Head: Strayhorn And Standards

Styles: Jazz, Big Band
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:44
Size: 144,8 MB
Art: Front

(7:50)  1. Autumn in New York
(3:40)  2. Where or When
(5:49)  3. The Man I Love
(4:41)  4. I'll Remember April
(4:48)  5. I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance
(3:25)  6. Moon River
(6:30)  7. Lover Man
(5:16)  8. You Go To My Head
(2:58)  9. Night and Day
(3:19) 10. Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
(2:56) 11. I'll Buy That Dream
(4:18) 12. Skylark
(4:33) 13. I've Got the World on a String
(2:35) 14. Yesterdays

The ballad component of the Great American Songbook has seldom sounded better than it does on this marvelous collaboration between the superlative Dutch Jazz Orchestra and the brilliant composer / arranger Billy Strayhorn, who wrote these exquisite charts for the Duke Ellington Orchestra over two decades beginning in the early ’40s. Eight of the arrangements are presented here for the first time, with four others preserved solely on hard-to-find radio broadcasts, and only two “Where or When” and “Lover Man” ever recorded commercially, the last in an abridged form. The most recent, a delightfully brisk cruise along Henry Mancini’s “Moon River,” dates from around 1962, five years before Strayhorn’s death at age fifty one. “Where or When” and “Lover Man” are sung by Marjorie Barnes, as are Hoagy Carmichael’s “Skylark” and Jerome Kern’s “Yesterdays.” Nothing is said about Barnes in the liner notes, but if she’s not an American living in the Netherlands she fashions one of the most remarkable impressions of one I’ve ever heard.

The DJO is loaded with world-class soloists, several of whom  flugel Ack van Rooyen (“Moon River,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man”), clarinetist John Ruocco (“Ghost of a Chance,” “I’ve Got the World on a String”), tenor Toon Roos (“I’ll Remember April”), alto Albert Beltman (“Night and Day”), baritone Nils van Haften (“I’ll Buy That Dream”), pianist Rob van Bavel (“You Go to My Head”) are showcased on the various instrumentals. Van Rooyen escorts Ruocco on “Autumn in New York,” trombonist Martijn Sohier on “The Man I Love,” while Roos adds shapely commentary on three of the four vocal tracks. Strayhorn was nearly as prolific as he was gifted, and close to six hundred of his elegant arrangements survive. Thanks to the DJO and Strayhorn scholar Walter van de Leur, at least some of them are now accessible in state-of-the-art digital sound. This is the second DJO / Strayhorn album I’ve heard (the other is Portrait of a Silk Thread, Dutch Jazz 95001). Challenge Records has apparently produced two others, So This Is Love (CHR 70091) and Something to Live For (CHR 70092). If they are anywhere near as grand and rewarding as You Go to My Head, they're worth your attention. 

~Jack Bowers 

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/you-go-to-my-head-billy-strayhorn-and-standards-challenge-records-review-by-jack-bowers.php

Personnel: Marjorie Barnes (vocals); Mieke Honingh (violin); Erica Korthals Altes (viola); Olaf Groesz (cello); Albert Beltman (clarinet, alto saxophone); John Ruocco (clarinet, tenor saxophone); Nils Van Haften (bass clarinet, baritone saxophone); Hans Meijdam (alto saxophone); Toon Roos, Ab Schaap (tenor saxophone); Ack Van Rooijen, Ack Van Rooyen (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jan Hollander, Jan Wessels, Jan Oosthof, Ruud Breuls, Peter Van Soest (trumpet); Bert Van Dijk, Ilja Reijngoud, Martijn Sohier, Hansjörg Fink (trombone); Rob van Bavel (piano); Eric Ineke, Martijn Vink (drums).

You Go To My Head: Strayhorn And Standards

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The Dutch Jazz Orchestra - Something To Live For: The Music Of Billy Strayhorn

Styles: Jazz, Big Band
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:54
Size: 117,3 MB
Art: Front

(1:41)  1. Fantastic Rhythm
(3:14)  2. A Penthouse on Shady Avenue
(3:42)  3. Let Nature Take its Course
(5:08)  4. Something to Live For
(2:05)  5. Everything Is Copasetic!
(5:00)  6. Day Dream
(3:35)  7. Hip
(4:18)  8. Blue House
(1:13)  9. Sprite Music
(2:16) 10. The Flowers Die of Love
(1:36) 11. Love, Love
(3:56) 12. Hipper-Bug
(5:20) 13. Pretty Girl
(4:24) 14. Chelsea Bridge
(3:20) 15. On the Wrong Side of the Rail Road Tracks

The fourth in the Dutch Jazz Orchestra’s series of albums devoted to songs composed and/or arranged by Billy Strayhorn focuses primarily on music written by Strayhorn for the theatre, beginning with the few surviving pieces from the concise show Fantastic Rhythm, produced around 1935, shortly after Strayhorn was graduated from high school. Also included are four songs written in 1953 for a surrealist play by Federico García Lorca, The Love of Don Perlimplim for Belisa in Their Garden, three of which  “Sprite Music,” “Love, Love,” “The Flowers Die of Love” were previously unrecorded. The fourth, “Wounded Love,” was introduced by the DJO on the first album in this series, Portrait of a Silk Thread. Strayhorn wrote “Everything Is Copasetic!” [sic] in 1962 for one of the annual shows presented by the Copasetics, a group of professional tap-dancers that he supervised, and “Wrong Side of the Railroad Tracks” for another show, Beggar’s Holiday. The other pieces, all of which were written for the Duke Ellington Orchestra, include the well-known “Chelsea Bridge” and “Pretty Girl,” presented in their unabridged form, the restful “Day Dream,” and world premieres of “Hipper-Bug,” “Blue House,” “Hip” and the 1942 arrangement of “Something to Live For,” featuring tenor saxophonist Toon Roos.

As on the other albums in the series, the DJO is letter-perfect, transcribing Strayhorn’s music with remarkable empathy and awareness. Soloists are excellent, with pianist Rob van Bavel showcased on “Fantastic Rhythm” and “Sprite Music” (both unaccompanied), clarinetist John Ruocco on “Everything Is Copasetic!,” trumpeter Mike Booth on “Hip,” alto saxophonist Albert Beltman on “Pretty Girl.” Roos is heard again with trombonist Martijn Sohier on “Blue House,” flugel Ack van Rooyen on “Hipper-Bug,” trombonist Hansjörg Fink and baritone Nils van Haften on “Chelsea Bridge.” There are half a dozen vocals by marvelous Marjorie Barnes, the best singer I’ve heard with any band in recent memory, and she’s outstanding on every one of them. Fans of good music in general and jazz in particular are indebted to musicologist and Strayhorn scholar Walter van de Leur for painstakingly canvassing the composer’s voluminous library to uncover so many wonderful treasures and to the Dutch Jazz Orchestra and conductor Jerry van Rooyen for making them available in such handsomely recorded new versions. ~ Jack Bowers  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/something-to-live-for-the-music-of-billy-strayhorn-challenge-records-review-by-jack-bowers.php

Personnel: Jerry van Rooyen, leader; Ack van Rooyen, trumpet, flugelhorn; Jan Oosthof, Ruud Breuls, Peter van Soest, Erik Veldkamp, Mike Booth, trumpet; Martijn Sohier, Ilja Reijngoud, Hansj

Something To Live For: The Music Of Billy  Strayhorn

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