Search - Oranj Symphonette :: Plays Mancini

Brisk revisitings of familiar music

N. Dorward | Toronto, ON Canada | 11/14/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album will console fans of Zorn's Naked City who mourn their disbanding in the early 1990s. 13 Mancini tunes are given readings that combine cheesiness & thrash into an homage that somehow manages to come off as a genuine tribute to the music of the late Henry Mancini. The opening track, "A Shot in the Dark", is overtly pinched from the first, self-titled Naked City album, using virtually the same arrangement. Ralph Carney's saxophone & duck calls are similarly straight out of Zorn's bag. But I hardly am bothered by matters of originality: the band (Carney, Joe Gore on guitar, Matt Brubeck on cello & bass, & Scott Amendola on drums) performs this material well, & even the more bluntly parodic versions--such as the desecration of the classic jazz standard "The Days of Wine and Roses"--aren't _merely_ ironic: there's real substance & feistiness here too. & the album doesn't outstay its welcome, at a pithy 42 minutes. Worth a sprinkling of stars, & an enjoyable listen in this age of the tribute album."