Bob Curnow039s LA Big Band - Music of Pat Metheny (12 tracks) +Album Reviews

How did I miss this gem!

A. Davis | Greenville, SC | 07/19/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When I first stumbled upon this recording, I thought someone was playing a trick on me. Pat Metheny's music with a big band is a natural fit. This recording bristles with energy and thought. The gorgeous melodies are savored and surrounded by big brass and strong rhythms. I can imagine that Metheny and Mays smiled when they listened to this disc. I saw The Pat Metheny Group live two years ago and they blew me away. I have been a fan of his since the Pastorious recordings, and he keeps getting better and better. This CD takes his music to another level. Let's pray that Mr. Curnow will round up the big band in 2000 and do a follow-up recording of Pat's more recent work. I would love to see Pat collaborate with Curnow to do a live double CD that would send us all to 7th heaven. This is a truely found treasure."

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B. Radley | Arlington, TX United States | 05/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Exhilarating! PMG fans and Big Band Fans rejoice. After hearing some of my favorite groups' tunes mutilated in elevators and grocery stores, I could be a little gun-shy of this album. Fortunately, our local Jazz College's radio station plays it often. At some point I knew I had to own it. This album combines the intricate, thoughtful and emotional composing of Metheny/Mays, Curnow's expert arranging, and brilliant performances by a line up of the best players around. As a huge PMG fan, I am very familiar with the music. To hear these compositions played by a super talented big band is much like my first listen to Switched On Bach. What? Bach with a electronic tone generator? When I heard Minuano (Six Eight), I first retrieved and reinserted my popped out eyes, then searched around on the floor for the jaw I dropped. It is startling to hear these favorites redone so well. Even the collage album art is reminiscent of many PMG albums.What is not surprising is that a dedicated Jazz educator like Curnow is associated with the MAMA foundation. Copies of the album and its charts are donated to music schools and museums. Profits are plowed back into to foundation to produce more great music. (...)Outstanding audio quality, soaring solos, richly textured arrangements, excellent guitar and piano where it is needed. These all add up to a fresh and uplifting take on some of the finest music ever written. Now you buy!"

Current, fresh, and it swings..

inland sailor | Wooster, OH USA | 05/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a rich CD that you can listen to over and over again.

My favorite is Always and Forever where Bobby Shew's flugelhorn is funky and beautiful. Every Summer Night is light and interesting with a rhythm that moves it along. In Her Family is haunting.

The rhythms and orchestrations still sound fresh after over a decade.

Although I have not been a Pat Metheny fan nor a fan of the guitar in jazz, this music goes beyond just soft jazz that one hears in an elevator...

Is it a curse or a blessing that jazz is being picked up for background use? Just when we thought younger listeners would delve into the richness of Miles, Ella, Kenton, Gil Evans and Basie after being exposed to jazz, I hear it dismissed as dental office music !!

This is a richly orchestrated CD that supplies a strong background for soloists like Shew and Bill Cunliffe.

One can hear Curnow's roots in the Kenton orchestra and as has been mentioned before.."Is this CD what Kenton might have been doing now?"

Incredibly interesting rhythms and a great rhythm section to execute them."

Hits both ends of the spectrum

Sean Makenson | Canada, MB | 01/22/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"On a first listening to this cd, it was wonderful, and gets a bit better each time you re-listen.

Most of the charts were good, some, like Minuano, Dream of the Return and In Her Family were excellent.

The one that really blew me away was If I Could, which doesnt suffer at all compared to the original Metheny version.

I did find some VERY lacking. Letter From Home, which was always my favourite ballad from the original album, has absolutely no feeling in it. It seemed straightforward, and very dead, missing all the emotion Mays put into it.

Overall great arrangements by Curnow, and with the exception of Letter From Home, an Excellent CD. I would reccomend buying it."

Big Band Without Boundaries...

Daniel Meyers | Castle Rock, CO United States | 12/05/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There's a reason that Bob Curnow's Metheny/Mays arrangements have become the meat and potatoes of college jazz ensembles in the past few years, and this album is it. Curnow starts with intelligent and musical arrangements, and gives them to some of L.A.'s best for interpretation; they certainly don't disappoint. The recording quality is second to none, replicating and improving on the clean, smooth sound that has generally been a hallmark of Metheny's own albums. Due to the excellent recording work, Curnow's L.A. Big Band is under a microscope, but Curnow has picked his musicians well and the blemishes are few and far between. Special mention in the playing department is definitely due to Bobby Shue, who plays the flugelhorn solo on "Always and Forever" with aching sensitivity and then goes on to rip his way vigorously from the bottom to the top range of his trumpet on the difficult changes of "Minuano 6/8". The evocative but gutsy trombone work on "Dream of the Return" is also a highlight of the album, and the rhythm section occasionally could fool you into thinking that Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays were actually sitting back there...Maybe Bob Curnow will bring us his big band take on Chick Corea next? I hope so."

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