After Appleby

After Appleby

ASIN: B00004S8PM

Track Listings
Disc: 1

1. Warp

2. Blue Star Kachina

3. Wax

4. Falcon's Wing

5. Wane

6. Weft

7. Where Heart Revive

8. Tchefit

Disc: 2

1. Capnomantic Vortex [For David Mossman]

2. Fond Farewell

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Three veteran British avant-gardists--saxophonist Evan Parker, bassist Barry Guy, and percussionist Paul Lytton, all long-time collaborators--are joined here by one of the most advanced of North American free improvisers, pianist Marilyn Crispell. Their well-matched idiosyncrasies and maturity emerge everywhere on this studio-live two-CD program. In improvisations of this kind, the styles and approaches of players may be or become familiar--Parker's fondness for warbling, fluttering runs, for example--but their deployment remains startling and requires and rewards focused listening. Parker's playing, ever evolving, makes one think, say, of the firing and rippling of ganglions--mingling aesthetic, intellectual, and emotional energies. A particular delight is "Where Heart Revive," a 25-minute piece in which Parker delivers a staggering flood of unimaginable sound on tenor saxophone, while Crispell, enormously skilled, rumbles in support. Guy and Lytton are ever alert, the latter flickering over his cymbals and drums with an admirable sense of when to interject silence. The results are thoroughly compelling. --Peter Monaghan

Tracks:

Prayer in the Night
Senza Catene (Unchained Melody)
Canto Alla Vita
Vita Mia
Requiem for a Soldier (Band of Brothers)
Whisper of Angels
The Pearl Fishers
Soave sia il vento
Nimrod: Lux Aeterna
Song to the Moon
Zadok the Priest
Nessun Dorma

Amazon.com

The debut of the young, classically trained international quintet of sopranos Jo Appleby and Tsakane Valentine, tenors David Habbin and Geoff Swell, and basso Nick Garret offers up a familiar take on the crossover formula that has enriched everyone from genre pioneers The Three Tenors to Russell Watson and beyond. While their occasionally electro-pumped rhythms and youth-angled marketing shtick ("The world's first opera band!") may borrow a page from Opera Babes and Bond, it still manages to evoke the spirit (if not the letter) of its eclectic classical sources. And if the world hasn't exactly been burning for yet another dramatized update of Turandot's melodic "Nessun Dorma," The Pearl Fishers, or--for that matter--"Unchained Melody," Amici Forever's takes on the pop side of the crossover equation are indeed promising, recasting Alex North's "Unchained.." ("Senza Catene") and their reworked theme to the miniseries Band of Brothers("Requiem for a Soldier") in a successful, neo-classical light. If Neopolitan-shaded originals like "Canto Alla Vita" and "Vita Mia" sound like Josh Groban clones, their glorious harmonic vocal reworkings of Faure's "Pavane" ("Whisper of Angels") and Elgar's "Enigma Variations" ("Nimrod: Lux Aeterna") bristle with an ambitious sense of adventure that's missing from much of their crossover competition. Serious opera buffs may still quarrel with the daring "impurity" of it all, but if Amici Forever prod a few more pimply punters to peruse Puccini, won't it all have been worth it? --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews:

great choice.......2007-01-11

this was a gift for family. family member loves album quality and selections.

Brilliant offering.......2007-01-10

Amici Forever is suberb in every way. Their arrangements are exceptional and the original lyrics are perfect poetry.

Easy Listening.......2006-09-21

Bought the album after hearing someone talk about the group. Thought the voices were okay (baritone was the best) but in some songs didn't blend properly. Selection of pieces was interesting . . . pop, classical, opera. Good album for "background" music.

Very Relaxing Music.......2006-09-11

I first heard it at a shop that sells English products. I thought it was interesting to hear and decided to get the CD for myself. I find the chorus very relaxing especially the last song which nearly put me to sleep as I am doing my homework. Amici Forever is a good CD to listen to when you have nothing to do or to soothe your wracked nerves.

What more can you expect?.......2006-08-04

CD was delivered quickly, in excellent shape, and for a great price. What more can you say? George

Average customer rating:

An incomparable musical dimension
crystalline, contemplative improvisation

After Appleby
Evan Parker , Barry Guy , Paul Lytton , and Marilyn Crispell
Manufacturer: Leo Records UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00004S8PM
Release Date: 2000-04-11

Tracks:

Warp
Blue Star Kachina
Wax
Falcon's Wing
Wane
Weft
Where Heart Revive
Tchefit

Tracks:

Capnomantic Vortex [For David Mossman]
Fond Farewell

Amazon.com

Three veteran British avant-gardists--saxophonist Evan Parker, bassist Barry Guy, and percussionist Paul Lytton, all long-time collaborators--are joined here by one of the most advanced of North American free improvisers, pianist Marilyn Crispell. Their well-matched idiosyncrasies and maturity emerge everywhere on this studio-live two-CD program. In improvisations of this kind, the styles and approaches of players may be or become familiar--Parker's fondness for warbling, fluttering runs, for example--but their deployment remains startling and requires and rewards focused listening. Parker's playing, ever evolving, makes one think, say, of the firing and rippling of ganglions--mingling aesthetic, intellectual, and emotional energies. A particular delight is "Where Heart Revive," a 25-minute piece in which Parker delivers a staggering flood of unimaginable sound on tenor saxophone, while Crispell, enormously skilled, rumbles in support. Guy and Lytton are ever alert, the latter flickering over his cymbals and drums with an admirable sense of when to interject silence. The results are thoroughly compelling. --Peter Monaghan

Customer Reviews:

An incomparable musical dimension.......2004-01-14

This double-CD is a superb example of an incomparable musical dimension courtesy of four of the most virtuosic, forward-looking, creative and intense improvisers/composers alive: Evan Parker (soprano and alto saxophones), Marilyn Crispell (piano), Barry Guy (bass), Paul Lytton (percussion).

I can't think of words that would do this music justice, which is very frustrating given its tragic lack of exposure and the lack of reviews of it (with the exception of the excellent review by autonomeous). The least I could do to increase its potential for greater exposure is to quote some passages from the superb liner notes by Steve Kulak, which are as fitting as I can imagine:

"Evan Parker is one of the few players who can transport you inside their mind completely. His dazzling technique rides hard on the back of an elaborate sense of invention. He has changed the face of saxophone technique and saxophone music. His approach to music is intensely physical yet intellectually detailed, constantly challenging at every level. ...

...It is impossible not to be overwhelmed by the sheer force of what is going on here. You would need to have ears of steel and a heart of stone not to appreciate this extended flight into outer space. ...

After Appleby is social engagement by four minds of equal stature sharing an equal commitment in an unequal world. They reinvent their instruments, from primal bursts to a thrilling harnessing of sound converted into a viable music so exciting and different that it virtually defies categorization.

... After Appleby, like Parker's 50th Birthday Concert, ... is music of such impressive focus and fearsome weight, that there is never any doubt as to the significance of the musical content. ...

Parker is in great company. Guy and Lytton match him in every respect. The bonus is Crispell ... If anyone wanted an introduction to the most engaging, exploratory piano mind at work today, then the Crispell discography on Leo Records will satisfy ten times over. Here is a disciplined mastery reflected through a prism of songs impregnated with all manner of subliminal nuances. ...

Welcome to Evan Parker's controlled fury. Welcome to life heard as music, an intimate source of sound, discipline and devotion swept along by a restless quest for the new to liquidate the old. ...

Climb over the wall. Project yourself into the music, in a situation you are obliged to be present in. This is music of conversation, making audible a world that already exists. It is not commodity music made to a market demographic. Listening to Parker, Guy, Lytton and Crispell you regain consciousness and can feel your bones again. ..."

crystalline, contemplative improvisation.......2000-11-13

AFTER APPLEBY is the second recording by the Parker/Guy/Lytton trio joined by pianist Marliyn Crispell -- their first was NATIVES AND ALIENS, a studio recording from 1997 also on Leo Records. AFTER APPLEBY breaks no new ground, but is another beautiful outing, a 2-disc set, one in the studio and one live at the Vortex. Evan Parker is heard on tenor more than usual here, his main horn being the soprano. And as before, there is much quiet, delicate playing -- whereas the sax/bass/drums trio is known for its lightning speed and intensity, adding Crispell to the mix results in slower playing with more space as the three veteran "natives" listen and make room for the "alien." If there is also some aging and mellowing going on in contrast to the ferocious music made by P/G/L in years past, it certainly does not diminish the precise and astonishing group interplay. There are moments when the volume, speed and intensity increase, though, make no mistake, and Crispell sounds more like Cecil Taylor.

The studio disc includes six short duets, with the players in various combinations, as well as two long quartet improvisations, "Blue Star Kachina" and "Where Heart Revive." The live disc contains one long improvisation, "Capnomantic Vortex," and a pretty closing number, "Fond Farewell," with a Crispell/Guy/Lytton trio. This is free improvisation at its finest, a superb representative of its genre by some of its masters.

Average customer rating:

After Appleby
Various
Manufacturer: Leo
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0002B6GTQ
Release Date: 2000-04-11

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