Search - Victor Herbert, Robert Katscher, George Gershwin :: Music for Moderns, Vol. 1

Symphonic jazz classics from Paul Whiteman

Lee Hartsfeld | Central Ohio, United States | 04/15/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This outstanding CD features Paul Whiteman and his Concert Orchestra from 1927 and 1928 performing a number of mostly light, often jazz-influenced orchestral titles, including George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" (in its original, or near-original Ferde Grofe arrangement) and a version of "Concerto in F" rescored by Grofe. Other titles include Domenico Savino's Gershwinesque "A Study in Blue," a skillfully-written condensed concerto that anticipates any number of 1940s film scores; Matty Malneck's lightweight but memorable mood pieces "Midnight Reflections" and "Caprice Futuristic;" songwriter Rube Bloom's famous "Soliloquy," a gentle parody of early-20s pop music; and a marvelous Grofe orchestration of "Sea Burial," a Debussyesque miniature by Eastwood Lane, an American composer much admired by jazz great Bix Beiderbecke. The restored sound is remarkably free of surface/background noise, which results in very detailed, if slightly muffled, sound. While I personally prefer more natural-sounding reissues, it must be said that these sides have been very carefully and lovingly restored. Peter Dempsey's liner notes are detailed and informative, as are the track listings in the booklet. A typically high-class production from Naxos, the budget label that delights and amazes."