Search - Domenico Scarlatti, David Richard Matthews, Astor Piazzolla :: Spanning the River

Well-rounded quartet in good first cd

07/06/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The players of this quartet are mostly not saxophone majors. Al Regni on soprano is diverse enough to also play clarinet on solo recordings and broadway shows. David Demsey on alto plays jazz, and is a coordinator of jazz studies and has written books on John Coltrane. David Carroll is a Fulbright scholar and principal bassoonist with the New York Philharmonic. Lino Gomez usually plays bass clarinet in the New Jersey symphony and is a former baritone saxophonist of Saturday Night Live. The fabulous musicians bring their talents together for a very well done recording of an eclectic selection of music. Their major goal is to represent American saxophone music. While Astor Piazzolla of Histoire du Tango fame is Argentine, he spent a great deal of his life in the states. Bob Mintzer was a founding member of the quartet, and his quartet featured here is an attempt to blend the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Percy Grainger, English folk composers, with the music of Igor Stravinsky and Aaron Copland. The interpretation by the musicians is well done. While the choice of music is good, the performers admit to having the audience and their entertainment in mind, the recording lacks the fine polish and finesse I have heard in other quartet recordings. Having played the Mintzer and the Piazzolla several times, I do have my own interpretations in mind and am perhaps somewhat biased. But the performers play well as a group, and for their first cd they did a very good job. They are also active performers in their quartet, and I look forward to hearing their future endeavors, including many newly comissioned pieces from composers like Jim McNeely, Mike Holober and Ted Wiprud."