Metropole Orchestra

Metropole Orchestra

ASIN: B000005R0Z

Track Listings

1. My One And Only Love

2. Speak Low

3. Nadalin

4. 'Round Midnight

5. Joy Spring

6. Ballad For Bobby

7. With A Song In My Heart

8. Here's That Rainy Day

9. You're My Everything

10. Waltz For Debby

Tracks:

Hora Decubitus
Favourite Hour
That's how you got killed before
Upon a Veil of Midnight Blue
Clubland
Almost Blue
Speak Darkly My Angel
Almost ideal eyes
Can You Be True?
Put away forbidden playthings
Episode Of Blonde
My flame burns blue (Blood Count)
Watching the Detectives
God give me strength

Tracks:

Prelude
Overture
Puck One
The Court
Workers' Playtime
Oberon and Titania
The Conspiracy of Oberon and Puck
Puck Two
The Identity Parade
The Face of Bottom
The Spark of Love
Tormentress
Oberon Humbeld
Twisted - Entangled - Transform and Exchange
The Fairy and the Ass
Sleep
The Play
The Wedding

Amazon.com

Elvis Costello takes the occasion of his first official live release (recorded with the 52-piece Metropole Orkest at The Hague's North Sea Jazz Festival in 2004) to not only recap the various non-rock/pop genres the restless veteran singer-songwriter has explored in recent years, but recast a few of his songbook favorites in striking new musical arrangements as well. The widow of Charles Mingus commissioned Costello to pen lyrics for the rousing revamp of the jazz legend's "Hora Decubitus" that anchors the album, a task he also performs for the bluesy title track, a reworking of Billy Strayhorn's final composition "Blood Count." Elvis wends through such oblique compositional corners as "Favourit! e Hour" and "Upon A Veil of Midnight Blue," a moody song originally written for blues great Charles Brown, but ultimately thoroughly reworked as "I Wonder How She Knows." "Clubland" is charged with savory Latin rhythms, "Almost Blue" recast as autumnal orchestral lament and "Watching the Detectives" re-imagined as jazzy, Bernard Herrmann-esque `50s TV theme. Other standouts include a swinging big band cover of Dave Bartholomew's "That's How You Got Killed Before" and a gorgeous rendition of his first Burt Bacharach collaboration, "God Give Me Strength." The set's bonus disc explores yet another intriguing corner of Costello's contemporary non-pop career via the 45-minute orchestral Il Sogno Suite, music culled from his '04 score for the Aterbaletto dance troupe's Italian production of A Midsummer's Night Dream. --Jerry McCulley

Album Description

Elvis Costello's My Flame Burns Blue is a live album with the legendary Metropole Orkest, a 52-piece jazz orchestra from the Netherlands, recorded in concert at The Hague. A bonus disc offers a 45-minute suite from Il Sogno, Costello's first full-length orchestral work. The album alternates between imaginatively reinvented Costello favorites like "Almost Blue," "Clubland," and "Watching the Detectives" (arranged "in the style of a 1950s television theme"), Costello compositions seeing release for the first time on a Costello album, and unexpected collaborations. "This recording captures a very joyful evening at the North Sea Jazz Festival and collects together songs and arrangements that have been developed over the last decade," writes Costello in his detailed liner notes.

For the opening track, "Hora Decubitus," Costello was invited by Charles Mingus's widow, Sue, to contribute lyrics to the jazzman's compositions. This song was completed in the immediate aftermath of September 11. "I could offer nothing more than a simple affirmation of life and rejection of vengeance," writes Costello. For the title track, Costello also wrote lyrics for Billy Strayhorn's final composition, "Blood Count."

Other highlights seeing release on a Costello album for the first time include "Speak Darkly, My Angel" and "Upon a Veil of Midnight Blue," which was written for and recorded by West Coast bluesman Charles Brown as "I Wonder How She Knows."

Il Sogno was originally commissioned by the Italian Dance Company, Aterbaletto, for their adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Following its premiere in Bologna with the Orchestra del Teatro Communale, the ballet was staged throughout Italy, Germany, France and Russia. Il Sogno was subsequently recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. The recording was released in September 2004 by Deutsche Grammophon and stayed at the top of Billboard's Contemporary Classical Charts for fourteen weeks.

Il Sogno received rave reviews upon its release. Mark Swed at The Los Angeles Times declared "Costello's sound is surprisingly fresh. His melodies are memorable. The sudden swings into jazz prove pure delight... [The performance is] bursting with life." The Boston Globe's Richard Dyer proclaimed "You'd have to go back to George Gershwin to find a composer-performer undertaking a project as ambitious as Il Sogno... It is full of character and storytelling, and the orchestration is skillful, unusual, and colorful."

More Elvis

Il Sogno, with the London Symphony Orchestra/Michael Tilson Thomas	The Juliet Letters, with the Brodsky Quartet	Painted from Memory, with Burt Bacharach
Imperial Bedroom, with the Attractions	King of America	The Very Best of Elvis Costello

Customer Reviews:

An undiscovered gem........2007-05-24

I have not been able to get this cd off my player. I hum themes from it constantly.
I Want More.
Anyone who wonders about the amount of production that goes into an Elvis Costello rock record will be astounded by the writing here, the thought, the musicality, and the professionalism of a full-time orchestra that swings. I don't mean that stilted Boston Pops crap, but real honest-to-God chops!
The sound clips here don't do this record justice.
This is absolutely one of his very best recordings and I urge everyone to go out and buy it! You won't be disappointed.

Elvis Costello does jazz!.......2007-05-13

My love & admiration for the work of Vince Mendoza, and my search for projects he's been involved with have led me in many different directions. Apart from some obvious places like Mendoza's own albums (some of which have been very hard to come by) and albums by the likes of John Abercrombie and Peter Erskine, they've also led me to people I would never have thought of on my own; people like Jane Monheit, Joni Mitchell, Stefano di Battista and Yuri Honing.

But although I'd heard of him, I never in a million years thought this search would lead me to Elvis Costello. I consider my musical tastes to be very eclectic but still, I would never have thought that I'd enjoy listening to an Elvis Costello CD, much less that I would actually own one.

But here we are. This CD of 14 very interesting songs sang in the jazz tradition, was recorded live at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 2004. Costello is backed by the Metropole Orkest (also known as the Metropole Orchestra), conducted by Vince Mendoza. Mendoza also arranges "That's How You Got Killed Before", "Episode of Blonde" and the title track, which is only 3 of the 14 songs but it's good enough for me. Interestingly, certainly for me, Bill Frisell & Willem Friede also arrange a song here - "Upon A Veil of Midnight Blue".

Costello is no Tony Bennett but he handles the songs with great charm and feeling. This is a singer who believes what he sings and as the listener, I in turn believe him. As I fully expected, the orchestration is sublime and there are some great trumpet, sax, guitar and cello solos. I enjoy the performance just as much as the applauding audience seems to and the more I listen to this CD, the more I find that surprising. Elvis Costello. Who would've thought? Definitely not me. So does this mean I might go on to buy more Elvis Costello CDs? It's difficult to say but it's certainly more likely now than it was before.

The very generous Bonus CD has another 18 songs, excerpts from Costello's Ballet after Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". I'm not a Shakespeare fan, a fan of the ballet or a classical music fan per se, but I do enjoy listening to this. Maybe it's because it features people whose work I've become very familiar with over the years. People like Peter Erskine on the drums, John Harle on saxophone, Chris Laurence on double bass, all backed by the London Symphony Orchestra.

All said and done, this is a wonderful CD full of rich and very rewarding music. I'm so glad I bought it.

Long live Elvis Costello! Long live Vince Mendoza!

Is It Elvis(Presley) or Duke Ellington Or both?.......2007-03-28

Never an artist that can be labelled,EC's life as an expression of the music he makes is royally showcased here in the myriad of styles presented on this very interesting CD presenting so many shades of great music eras GONE BY BUT NOT FORGOTTEN that makes Elvis not only a very interesting musician but a historical personality that leaves the imprint of a man living life to its max.
I have been fortunate to listen to the man from "My Aim Is True" saw the original Attractions more than once, and like him can identify with his changes of tastes recognizing great music for what it is despite the chronology.
For starters, reworking his songs to fit at times Latin tinged,jazzy,classical,Sinatra Bacharach, countryish arrangements and balladry remains bold considering his penchant for his songwriters style as showcased on the rocking sophistry of "Trust" albums like 'Almost Blue"(country),homage to great songwriters (Painted From Memory) even his own development as a mature songwriter (Imperial Bedroom)avant garde classical(Juliet Letters)with his later work & experiments fusing that manic angry young rock and roller of the past nodding to his old Motown love(Get Happy),with the likes of Allen Toussaint in the homage to New Orleans(The River In Reverse)what came before New Orleans was this fine sounding CD paying it's due to great music in all it's manifold stripes with passion and excitement Ala Charles Mingus to the regal elegance of Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn.
Even the CD cover harkens back to Duke's Anatomy Of Murder(Ellington's foray into movie soundtrack), and the presented music with this jazz classical orchestra is something only a Charles Mingus was capable off so highly reminiscent of Mingus is Costello at times that it is refreshing.
An additional nod to Duke in his Shakespearean jaunts through his "Such Sweet Thunder" and major works such as "Black,Brown @ Beige" is apparent in EC as is his general appreciation of these great American jazz and big band artists in his unmistakable UK sublteties.
Such is the case of the bonus CD "Il Sogno" Suite, resembling again Duke's "Such Sweet Thunder" in theme but is pretty classical.
If any comparison can be made ,what comes to my mind stylistically and thematically are Joe Jackson albums notably(The album duplicating that early Sonny Rollins album cover) 'Body&Soul' pretty sophisticated stuff for the time,and Jackson's reworking of swing and big band for a young unsophisticated punk rock audience of the day with "Jumpin Jive".
New Orleans Dr.John the night tripper, whose involvment with great cover albums and homages to Ellington and Toussaint comes to mind as well.
EC made the grade with this one and is in good company.
I would love to hear EC do a Count Basie album with some Satchmo and King Oliver thrown in for good measure.

This man does it all.......2007-01-29

Elvis as a crooner? Oh yes. He pulls it off. I saw the tour for this release at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta. It only supported my faith in this album. I am up for anything different and when I heard of this I couldn't resist. It holds up.
"HORA DECUBITIS" & "GOD GIVE ME STRENGTH" are the openers and closers for this disc. They are the 2 standouts on the disc and let me tell you, all else in between makes the perfect sandwich. You chew, disolve and are left with a pleasant taste in your mouth.
When I saw Costello perform in Atlanta, I was blown away by his voice. He came out for an encore and didn't even use a mic. He gave an incredible performance, and he did the same for this CD performance at NORTH SEA JAZZ FESTIVAL.
All in all, if you are a fan, or a newcomer, this man does not dissapoint on this. Costello is all over the place in the musical circles, but he remains stedfast on this release. He delivers!

Our little overachiever.......2007-01-01

Proving he just can't sit still, Elvis takes on Jazz in this live release. While there are a couple new selections to choose from, the majority of this CD is Elvis rethinking back catalog. Frankly, I am beginning to wish he'd leave well enough alone. Some of the revisions just come off as quirky for their own sakes, and the noirish version of "Watching The Detectives" just doesn't work for me.

Although what does work best are the latter day material. Songs like "Favorite Hour" (from "Brutal Youth") were made for this sort of embellishment, and "Episode Of Blonde" benefits. But "Clubland" and "Almost Ideal Eyes" just don't. It is primarily the non-Costello compositions that hold up best, like "That's How You Got Killed Before" and "Hora DeCubitus" (to which Costello added lyrics to a Charles Mingus song).

But overall, this is just Elvis Costello doing his regular exorcism of his muse. For a casual listener, this will fall into the same category as "The Juliet Letters," "North" or "Il Songo." The collaboration with Allen Toussaint is a better work, and more worth your time than this. Passable.

Our Relations: The Lost Laurel & Hardy Music

Average customer rating:

OUTSTANDING
Additional info

Our Relations: The Lost Laurel & Hardy Music
The Beau Hunks & the Metropole Orchestra
Manufacturer: Basta Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005AQI5
Release Date: 2001-04-17

Tracks:

Our Relations (Overture)
Ku-Ku
We're Just A Happy Family
Carefree
Transition #2
Captain Winkle
Alf's Hornpipe
Walkin' The Deck
Fancy This
Captain Winkle #2
Transition #3
We're Out For Fun
Just A Kiss
Walk
Drunk
Don't Push Me
Mrs. McGregor
Ku-Ku
Carefree #2
Hornpipe
We're Out For Fun Pt.2
Gossip
Transition #4
It's The Law
Dancing On The Clouds
Ku-Ku & Hornpipe
Just A Little Rhythm
Let's Face It
Happy Birthday
On A Sunny Afternoon
Don't Push Me V.2
On The Dock
We're Just A Happy Family (Reprise)
Finale (For End Title)
Bonus Track

Amazon.com

Composer Leroy Shields played piano, led radio orchestras, penned semiclassical works, and, for a few years in the 1930s, wrote music for Hollywood. The Beau Hunks, a Dutch ensemble, have lovingly reconstructed Shield's score for Our Relations, a 1936 comedy starring Laurel and Hardy. Members of the Beau Hunks, joined by the Metropole Orchestra, perform the original sheet music for the film on this finely packaged and annotated CD. If you're a fan of old movies and some of this disc sounds vaguely familiar, there's a reason. Back in the '30s music editors cut up recordings of Shields's original score into manageable bits; some of the resulting parts were then used in Our Relations and other films as well. On another note, it turns out that Shields's music can be tough to play. According to the album's liner notes, the longest track, "On the Dock," prompted Jan Stulen, the conductor on these sessions, to say, "Compared to this, Mahler's Ninth is like a flute sonata." --Fred Cisterna

Customer Reviews:

OUTSTANDING.......2001-08-20

Another winner from the Beau Hunks. if you like Laurel and Hardy and like film music, this is a must-have album. An added bonus: a terrific brochure and history by Laurel and Hardy scholar Richard Bann.

Additional info.......2001-04-06

This is the official, complete soundtrack to the Laurel & Hardy movie OUR RELATIONS. A 44-page booklet contains never-before-published photographs, and liner notes by Richard W. Bann. A must have for fans of the Laurel & Hardy Music Boxset by The Beau Hunks.

Raymond Scott: Chesterfield Arrangements 1937-1938

Average customer rating:

Hunks or Nothing
A little too stiff, disappointing
A splendid sound, but a little too "polished" at times
The genius of Scott in broad color!
New and Clean recordings of amazing music

Raymond Scott: Chesterfield Arrangements 1937-1938
Metropole Orchestra & Beau Hunks Saxtette
Manufacturer: Basta Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Kodachrome
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Our Relations: The Lost Laurel & Hardy Music
Saxophone Soctette

ASIN: B00002SWK0
Release Date: 1999-11-16

Tracks:

Powerhouse
Mexican Jumping Bean
The Penguin
Dinner Music For A Pack Of Hungry Cannibals
Reckless Night On Board An Ocean Liner
Egyptian Barn Dance
The Toy Trumpet
Tia Juana
Christmas Night In Harlem
Celebration On The Planet Mars
The Happy Farmer
Bumpy Weather Over Newark
War Dance For Wooden Indians
Suicide Cliff
Minuet In Jazz
Siberian Sleighride
Twilight In Turkey
Powerhouse

Customer Reviews:

Hunks or Nothing.......2006-12-31

Raymond Scott's original recordings are still the definitive, impossible-to-replicate versions of his music. You cannot do better.

It's wonderful, though, to hear the sparkling recording quality here. Hunks clearly loves the material (this is not the only version of Scott Hunks has done) but the technical stuff is too demanding for the Hunks players.

Think about it.

Would you want to plat this material??

A little too stiff, disappointing.......2006-05-11

One of the things about playing music is knowing the style and being comfortable in it. The Metropole Orchestra obviously has played music like this before, but they are just a little too stiff in these arrangements. The running passages in "Powerhouse" actually sound labored. The Warner studio musicians in the forties, knew how to lean into the rhythms, and what to accent, etc. Obviously these are not Carl Stalling's reworkings, but the rhythmic figures are there.
Some music simply requires that you know the idiom (Chicago Symphony under Reiner or Solti, playing Bartok, as opposed to Karajan and Berlin).
I went back to the "Carl Stalling Project".

A splendid sound, but a little too "polished" at times.......2006-04-04

This is, to my knowledge, the only recording of these orchestrations of Scott's works. They are lavish and very enjoyable - evoking an era, as well as hinting at some of the composers later musical ideas. Most of the pieces here are available in smaller arrangements on other recordings, but others seem purpose-written for this larger pallet (Christmas Night in Harlem - a very enjoyable song - and Tia Juana, in particular, comes to mind here).

As with the other Beau Hunks recordings of this music, my only criticism is that these performances are, at times, a bit too smooth. The Scott style is simultaneously unstable and finely-wrought, making for a certain tension in listening. Some of the cuts on this disc, particularly The Penguin, have the rhythms polished to lapidary perfection, but the sense of amazement that it all fits together is lost in the process.

This is, however, a very small censure. The overall effort - as with their other Scott recordings - is extremely well done and well worth purchasing. This small renaissance of Scott's early compositions is great to see. I only hope that an American ensemble will try at some point have the courage to try these arrangements!

The genius of Scott in broad color!.......2003-06-05

This review would have been titled "They did it again", if this CD hadn't been released BFORE the "Kodachrome" CD... Conclusion: hey, they did it BEFORE! Great sound, giving a "full color" dimension of the already outstanding original compositions. Even if one doesn't always agree with those arrangements, made in the late thirties for Paul Whitman's "Chesterfield Orchestra", the overall result is splendid, and the legendary Beau Hunks are omnipresent as featured soloists...

New and Clean recordings of amazing music.......2002-08-05

Raymond Scott was an innovator of high order, bringing something a little wacky to the controlled world of written musical composition. This stuff is Amazingly hard to play, say the Musicians, and this recording shows the intricacy and skill of the arrangements in a way the original recordings could never do because of the limited recording techniques of the day. Although not as energetic or frantic as some of the originals, repeated listenings don't seem to wear you out like so many other novelty Jazz recordings. Try listening to an hour of Spike Jones for instance. Instead this stuff grows on you, leaving you wanting more.

Average customer rating:

Music that glows with color and life
What's in a name?
Reviews
Yet another overlooked side of Raymond Scott

Kodachrome
Metropole Orchestra , and Raymond Scott
Manufacturer: Basta Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00006HI99
Release Date: 2002-09-03

Tracks:

Hertz Theme
Secret Agent
Birdseed Special
Fiddle No Further
Fifinella
Egyptian Summer
Kodachrome
Naked City
Minor Prelude
The Bullfighter And His Piccolo
Dreary Weather On 6th Avenue
Carrier Pigeon
Symphony Under The Stars
Rococo
Two Young Lads In A Saxophone School
City Of New York
Confusion Among A Fleet Of Taxicabs Upon Meeting With A Fare

Customer Reviews:

Music that glows with color and life.......2004-02-11

"Kodachrome" arrived February 8 after a prolonged back-order, and I must say it was worth the wait - I haven't had this CD out of the player since! If you don't know Raymond Scott or the Beau Hunks/Metropole ensembles, this disc is a very good introduction to either - exciting, varied, tuneful, beautifully played, lovingly transcribed from rare old recordings, and unique in its charm and interest. And if you do know them - well, run, don't walk to the shopping cart with this one. I promise you'll enjoy it.

From the smooth flow of forties traffic evoked on cut one, "Hertz Theme", to the priceless sound-cartoon of a 1935 vintage fender-bender on cut 17, "Confusion Among a Fleet of Taxicabs", this collection is a joyride all the way through. I wasn't prepared to like a ditty with a name like "The Bullfighter and His Piccolo", but they put even this over appealingly. The real highlights, though, are the delicious proto-Mancini "Secret Agent", the hypnotic fifties noir riff of "City of New York", the aural art deco sublimeness of "Egyptian Summer" (what was Ray's thing about Egypt, anyway?), the gestures towards "serious music" on "Minor Prelude", and the quick-tonguing tour de force "Two Young Lads in Saxophone School", which should send more than a few contemporary reedmen back to the woodshed.

The Metropole heard here isn't quite the full 60-piece complement on their excellent Ferde Grofé album of several years past. Most cuts are in big band instrumentation, with several more adding a full string section and orchestral woodwinds. (Total personnel number 49, but I'd be surprised if more than 25-30 were present at a time.) The natural, minimally processed sound is lush and mellow, and the Dutch musicians exhibit virtuoso skills untainted by jaded assembly-line professionalism. Scott always admonished those playing his music to "make it your own", and they truly do. For that and many other reasons, "Kodachrome" is a collection to revisit again and again.

What's in a name?.......2003-06-05

If you agree that a word like "Kodachrome" stands as a symbol for pictures' colors, then no title could fit better for this CD, which, through musicianship and sound mastering, adds outstanding sound color to Scott's orchestral works. If then you bear in mind that, like was the case for (the) other Beau Hunks (-related) CDs, those scores have been reconstructed from vintage recordings...

Reviews.......2002-11-17

* * * * *

"There is many a little masterpiece here. A wealth of rare material that will be of considerable interest to Raymond Scott's increasing following. Beyond that, it may well be THE outstanding big band release of the year."

--U.D.Lewis, ALL MUSIC GUIDE

* * * * *

"Light years ahead of much of what is being unloaded on the public these days. For those who appreciate popular music, well-seasoned with class, this album should be an entertaining addition to the library."

--Jack Bowers, ALL ABOUT JAZZ

* * * * *

Yet another overlooked side of Raymond Scott.......2002-09-18

* * * * *

KODACHROME is a fantastic collection of Raymond Scott's idiosyncratic orchestral music, performed by the 60-piece Metropole Orchestra. All compositions make their CD debut here.

With KODACHROME, the Raymond Scott legacy grows yet again. After Scott disbanded his legendary "Quintet" in 1939, he formed the first of his many orchestras. Scott continued to compose, this time for a larger canvas, and some of his more historically fascinating work often went commercially unrecorded, performed only on radio (and preserved on transcription discs made by Scott himself).

Includes such obscure titles as "A Bullfighter and His Piccolo," "Dreary Weather on 6th Avenue," and "Two Young Lads in Saxophone School." The earliest composition on KODACHROME, "Confusion Among a Fleet of Taxicabs Upon Meeting With a Fare," was composed in 1935; the latest, "City of New York" and "Naked City," date from 1953.

KODACHROME was produced by Beau Hunks leader Gert-Jan Blom, and features exceptional artwork by Kellie Strom, and liner notes by noted author and jazz historian Will Friedwald...

Tracks:

Four Pictures of a Modern Newspaper: Run of the News
Four Pictures of a Modern Newspaper: Sob Sister
Four Pictures of a Modern Newspaper: Comic Strip
Four Pictures of a Modern Newspaper: Going to Press
Five Pictures of the Grand Canyon: Sunrise
Five Pictures of the Grand Canyon: Painted Desert
Five Pictures of the Grand Canyon: On the Trail
Five Pictures of the Grand Canyon: Sunset
Five Pictures of the Grand Canyon: Cloudburst

Tracks:

Concerto in F: Allegro
Concerto in F: Andante Con Moto
Concerto in F: Allegro Agitato

Album Description

This 2-disc set features new recordings in settings previously used by Paul Whiteman. Included are the complete "Grand Canyon Suite", "Tabloid Suite" and Gershwin's "Concerto in F". This is the first recording of the complete jazz version of the "Grand Canyon Suite"!

Customer Reviews:

Sensational!.......2004-09-16

I'm happy to report that this two-CD Ferde Grofe set is a winner from front to cover. Grofe's 1932 "Tabloid Suite," composed fifteen years after Erik Satie's music for the ballet "Parade," employs similar sound effects (including a typewriter and siren), similar machine-like rhythms and riffs, and similar contrasts of dynamics and tempi. Even the whole-tone sections (a Grofe staple) sound Satie-esque here. No waste of ink, this wonderful piece delights and entertains in both a gaudy yellow-journalistic style and a more thoughtful op-ed fashion. A dizzying, rondo-like "Run of the News" is followed by "Sob Sister," a lush and Paul-Whiteman-esque tear-jerker with shades (so to speak) of "Sunset." This is the closest we may ever come to hearing the vintage Whiteman outfit in stereo. The suite presses on with the charming and thematically-diverse "Comic Strip"--the best kind of cartoon music, very sardonic and Les Six--and concludes with the sound-effects festival, "Going to Press." Reprints--er, reprises--of earlier themes occur in this, the most "Parade"-like movement in the group. If all of this weren't enough, the Metropole Orchestra also delivers a suitably grand version of Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite" as scored for Paul Whiteman in 1932. A miracle of orchestration, this more intimate version of the suite might be better, in some ways, than the one we're used to hearing--no details of chord or melody are eroded by overactive engineering, and no portion of the brass is lost in the gorge. Here, we have the movement as Grofe intended it to burst. The second CD features Grofe's fascinating 1928 orchestration of Gershwin's "Concerto in F," lovingly presented, and with the same refreshing attention to detail. Gershwin's concerto, while an American classic, is in some ways an odd follow-up to the two masterfully-organized Grofe suites, as Gershwin had none of Grofe's sense of form. Compared to Ferde's compositional precision, George's art was virtually one of filling musical space with sounds. Then again, few people ever filled that space as memorably as he did. Order isn't everything, I suppose. (But, by all means, order this fabulous CD!)

Average customer rating:

great

Metropole Orchestra
Peter Weniger
Manufacturer: Mons Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000005R0N
Release Date: 1995-08-15

Tracks:

There Is No Greater Love
Together Again
There Will Never Be Another You
Rosemarie's Baby
Yesterdays
On Green Dolphin Street
In A Sentimental Mood
What Is This Thing Called Love
Dear Old Friend
Less Is Best

Customer Reviews:

great.......1998-07-25

I've known Peter for quite a long time, and in my opinion he is one of the few people, who can do it in front of a big orchestra.

Average customer rating:

A Classic
Jazz fan in New York City (The Fifester)

Metropole Orchestra
Clark Terry
Manufacturer: Mons Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Metropole Orchestra
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Plays Well With Others
Dizzy's Dream Band

ASIN: B000005R0Y
Release Date: 1995-03-24

Tracks:

Mean To Me
I'm An Old Cowhand
Candy
Blues For Jay
Samba De Orfeu
Gwen
Come Sunday
It Could Happen To You
Mood Indigo
Theme From 'The Flintstones'

Customer Reviews:

A Classic.......2000-01-11

Smooth, with hushed Basie tones and silky solos is how I would describe Blues for Jay, but the rest is just as good. The retinue is diverse and the sound relaxing and beutifully blended. A romantic disc which should be in any post-Big Band era jazz fan's collection.

Jazz fan in New York City (The Fifester).......1999-12-10

This one is a real gem. Smooth, rich and really cool. What a combo, Terry and the Metropole Orchestra! Blues for Jay is just so good, can't hardly believe it! Click it! You won't be sorry.

Average customer rating:

Vince Mendoza meets Yuri Honing

Symphonic

Manufacturer: Challenge
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000EOTCCE
Release Date: 2006-07-11

Tracks:

Elegant People
Atras Da Porte
Diana
Paranoid Android
Yasutani
I'Avventura
In A Silent Way

Album Description

Symphonic features material from composers like Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul in addition to originals and one cover of a Radiohead tune. With his brilliant saxophone playing and wonderful compositions, Yuri Honing is considered one of the leading Dutch voices in jazz. Vince Mendoza, at the forefront of the jazz scene for the last twenty-five years, has been heralded by critics as a master of contemporary idioms. Includes two bonus films.

Customer Reviews:

Vince Mendoza meets Yuri Honing.......2006-12-19

I'd never heard of Yuri Honing before I came across this album but Vince Mendoza and I go way back. I think I have just about every album he's released in his own name and every album by any other artiste he's had a hand in; people like John Abercrombie, Stefano di Battista, Peter Erskine, Jimmy Haslip, Jane Monheit and even Joni Mitchell. He is without a doubt, my favourite jazz/jazz orchestra composer and arranger. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who holds him in such high regard as the list of jazz greats who have literally lined up to play on his interesting compositions and arrangements reads like a who's who: apart from the aforementioned Abercrombie and Erskine, we're also talking people like Michael Brecker, Marc Johnson, Bob Mintzer, Will Lee, Joe Lovano, Joshua Redman, John Scofield, John Taylor, Ralph Towner, Kenny Wheeler and Yellowjackets, just to name a few.

Within the first few seconds of the first song on this album, I knew I wouldn't regret buying it and while it is definitely largely saxophonist Honing's party, with support from other soloists like Martijn Vink on percussion/drums, Eddy Koopman and Murk Jiskoot on drums, Peter Tiehuis on guitar and Jasper Soffers on piano and with the Mendoza conducted Metropole Orchestra filling in the blanks, this is definitely the joint project that the title suggests.

Every tune is a winner in my book but special surprises were the versions of Wayne Shorter's "Elegant People", the Joe Zawinul-penned Miles Davis classic, "In A Silent Way" and Radiohead's "Paranoid Android". Honing himself pens one of the tunes and the others are by Chico Barque & Francis Hime, Wayne Shorter again and of course, Mendoza who also arranged and conducted the whole album. This is great stuff and why Mendoza hasn't got a higher profile than he does have and why he isn't putting out more albums than he is doing will for me, remain two of life's biggest mysteries.

Though I loved it personally, Mendoza's last album 1997's "Epiphany" with the London Symphony Orchestra, got some very harsh reviews. I think this one is better though so I definitely recommend it. If you like modern exciting jazz with strings or better still, if you're a Mendoza fan like me, you'll love it. There are also two bonus mpeg file movies on the CD which you can play on your PC. They are videos of an alternate takes of "Elegant People" and "Diana".

A note of warning: The music on this CD lasts for only 37mins and 7secs. It's satifying but will definitely leave you wanting more. Is that a contradiction in terms?

Average customer rating:

A Warm and Gentle Musical Dream From The Sax of A Legend

Saxophone Dreams
Lee Konitz & the Netherlands Metropole Orchestra
Manufacturer: Koch Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000006J5R
Release Date: 1998-04-21

Tracks:

It Never Entered My Mind
Round And Round And Round
Poor Butterfly
Invitation
I Remember You
Come Sunday
Indian Summer
Crazy He Calls Me
Subconscious Lee
Try A Little Tenderness

Customer Reviews:

A Warm and Gentle Musical Dream From The Sax of A Legend.......2006-05-12

One of the most beautiful albums I've ever had the pleasure to hear. Lee Konitz is a jazz giant and on this recording he makes his saxophone sing some dreamy songs. He is backed up by the renowned Netherlands Metropole Orchestra that lends that symphony/ big band sound making the music relaxing and wonderful to listen to. This is a collector's item and I would hope that someone would consider a reissue before this music is lost forever. A truly remarkable album.

Here Comes Allan Harris and the Metropole Orchestra

Average customer rating:

A Song and a Swing From a Great Singer and a Powerful Band

Here Comes Allan Harris and the Metropole Orchestra
Allan Harris
Manufacturer: Mons Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000005R0D
Release Date: 1996-06-18

Tracks:

I'm Old Fashioned
Mean To Me
You Don't Know What Love Is
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
Yardbird Suite
The Folks Who Live On The Hill
Day In Day Out
Cheek To Cheek
The Windmills Of Your Mind
I Thought About You
The Girl From Ipanema
Here's That Rainy Day
Don't Blame Me
My One And Only Love
Lookin' At The World Through Rose-Colored Glasses

Customer Reviews:

A Song and a Swing From a Great Singer and a Powerful Band.......2005-05-11

Wow!What an incredible CD this is. If you are unfamiliar with Allan Harris as I was, get a hold of this CD and introduce yourself to a wonderful jazz singer and a jewel of an album. An album that beautifully blends the genre of jazz vocals with the sophistication and power of the full orchestra big band that results in one treasure of a recording. "Here Comes Allan Harris and The Metropole Orchestra" is a fifteen track CD of classic pop and jazz standards from such musical giants as Gershwin, Berlin,Jobim,Kern,Van Heusen and Charlie Parker. Allan Harris is gifted with a soothing baritone voice, that if you close your eyes and you did not know it was Harris singing,you would think you were listening to Nat King Cole. Harris reaches and caresses each tune with the emotion and feelings you thought only Sinatra could do. It's hard to believe that this CD was recorded in 1994. The music is fresh and exciting and serves as an example of how timeless great jazz music can be. There is no question that this CD is an Allan Harris project. There is also absolutely no doubt that what makes this recording special, is the collaboration with the renowned Metropole Orchestra from Europe. This Netherlands based fifty-four (54) piece big band provides one breath-taking musical background setting that elevates Harris's performance to produce the great music you hear on this CD. The Orchestra is directed by Dick Bakker and on this recording,conducted and arranged by Rob Pronk. Mr. Pronk's arrangements compliments Harris's singing and perfectly marries it with the breadth of a full symphony and jazz orchestra that turns each song into gold. The music is simply superb. This CD swings, cooks,and also mellows out, stretching the range of musical emotions. If you prefer love songs, you'll find them in the tunes "You Don't Know What Love Is" and in "My One and Only Love". If you like the upbeat stuff, there is the sizzling "Yardbird Suite," a Charlie Parker composition that features a sultry sax solo by Jos Berendsen. One of my favorites is the Irving Berlin's "Cheek to Cheek" that Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers danced to in the movie "Top Hat". The one track that fools you from the start, is Jobim's "Girl from Ipanema," a song that is known as a classic bossa nova standard, is masterfully disguised like a jazzy Ellington number that still manages to deliver the bossa nova touch in a slightly different big band style. In summation, this is one super CD that serious jazz fans should have in their collection.

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