Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix

Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix Artist: Gil Evans
Label: Rca
Category: Music



Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Format: Original recording remastered
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 090266387229
EAN: 0090266387229
ASIN: B00005TOXQ


Release Date: 2002-02-05

Related Categories:

Bebop General Bebop General
Related | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music
Cool Jazz Cool Jazz
Related | Jazz | Styles | Music
General General
Related | Jazz | Styles | Music
Jazz Fusion Jazz Fusion
Related | Jazz | Styles | Music
Modern Postbebop Modern Postbebop
Related | Jazz | Styles | Music
General General
Related | Pop | Styles | Music
Contemporary Big Band Contemporary Big Band
Related | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

Listmania:

  1. Gil Evans - master jazz arranger & band leader
  2. jazz tribute albums and re-creations
  3. Big bands of the 60's and 70's

Tracks:

  1. Angel
  2. Crosstown Traffic
  3. Medley: Castles Made From Sand, Foxy Lady
  4. Up From The Skies
  5. 1983-A Merman I Should Turn To Be
  6. Voodoo Chile
  7. Gypsy Eyes
  8. Little Wing
  9. Angel (Bonus Track)
  10. Castles Made From Sand (Bonus Track)
  11. Up From The Skies (Bonus Track)
  12. Gypsy Eyes (Bonus Track)

Similar Items:

  1. Out of the Cool
  2. Svengali
  3. The Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings
  4. Somethin' Else
  5. Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Meets the Challenge.......2005-04-25

Given some prior reviews, I almost passed on this CD. Took a chance and am quite pleased. It's not Jimi, nor does it have some of the oomph of later tribute CD's. But it really has some amazing moments, and could not possibly be confused with Muzak (IMHO).

I feel that Mr. Evans captured much of Jimi's ethereal feel with instruments that are normally not associated with trippy sonorities. The arrangements of "Angel" and "Up from the Skies" are beautiful.

But my favorite bit is an upper-register tuba rendering of the melody for Voodoo Chile. Reminds me of Frank Zappa. It's priceless!

Mr. Evans delves into a number of Hendrix's lesser known tunes, and pulls out a feeling that only someone of his caliber can possibly even attempt to put forth with a big band.

My only complaints are the cheesy contemporary synthesizer, and somewhat dated production quality. But given the 1974-5 recording dates, and the difficulty of stuffing so many instruments into a bit of tape, I don't find these to be much of a distraction.

1 out of 5 stars What was Gil Evans thinking?.......2004-01-13

Only a bad case of vertigo - complete loss of equilibrium - during the planning, arranging, recording and mixing of this horrific album could explain Gil Evans'participation. The music is truly awful. All you have to do is listen to the horn intro of "Voodoo Chile" (sic) to know what the whole album is all about. Teaming up Gil Evans with Jimi Hendrix is as absurd as having David Bowie and Bing Crosby sing Little Drummer Boy as a duet.

1 out of 5 stars A disasterous fusion of jazz and rock........2002-04-24

I really love Gil Evans big band work on the Miles Davis albums: Sketches of Spain, Porgy & Bess, and Miles Ahead. These are probably my three favorite Jazz albums. I also love Gil Evans own work on Out of the Cool and on Gil Evans and Ten.

Jimi Hendrix has been my idol since my early teens. Electric Ladyland is my all time favorite album. I've worn through three vinyl and three CD editions.

So you would think I would really enjoy this album, right? Wrong!!! Somewhere this concept went terribly, terribly, awfully, horribly wrong. Instead of Cool Jazz, instead of hip Fusion, we have really bad Muzak versions of Hendrix.

There are 12 tracks on the CD. "Angel" is a solid instrumental muzak version of the Hendrix tune with horns adequately replacing the guitar. "Crosstown Traffic" is where the pain of listenting to this album really starts. I am not sure who the vocalist is, but he completely loses the rythm of the song. Evans pulls in an electric guitar to try and save the track...but it is just painful to listening. Next is a medley of "Castles Made of Sand" and "Foxey Lady" that is almost unrecognizable and makes me want to pound the door-open button on the elevator. "Up from the Skies" is next. This is also unrecognizable and unlistenable. "1983-A Merman I should Turn to Be" is pure torture with what sounds like a Ondes-Martinot from a bad 1950's horror movie taking the lead. Again, an electric guitar is interjected midway through the song to try and save it. "Voodoo Chile" is pure blasphemy. I think the vocalist is trying to hum the tune through a voice-box. The tempo is too slow and the tension and power of the song is completely lost. Horns just interject noise and the electric guitar totally fails to save the song. This is pure torture. "Gypsy Eyes" almost works. It isn't muzak -- but it does sound like something the house-band on a 1970's TV variety show would come up with for this song. Midway through the song, it degenerates with some free jazz style horn playing that is all wrong for one of Jimi's tightest songs. "Little Wing" is Jimi's most Muzak friendly composition. Evans could have made this a sweet Cool Jazz interpretation. Instead, he uses way too much bass, and has his horn section blowing too hard. A real disappointment. There are four more bonus tracks: "Angel", "Castles Made of Sand", "Up From the Skies," and "Gypsy Eyes" which lamely rehash earlier parts of the CD.

This album just doesn't work. It is bad Hendrix, it is bad Gil Evans, it is a bad tribute, it is bad Jazz, and it is bad Muzak.

5 out of 5 stars Addictive.......2002-02-24

This is a wonderful, wonderful album. I have 200 jazz and blues albums loaded in my CD player, and I usually play them in some kind of rotation, so they don't get stale or overplayed, but since I've had this I just want to play it over and over again. Crosstown Traffic and Up From The Skies are probably my favorite tracks, but they are all great.

But what else can I say? Listen to some of the samples here on Amazon and judge for yourself.

One caveat: On a first superficial listening, I did get the impression that some of the tracks were a bit like that "smooth" jazz that they play on the radio all the time, but really it has a lot more guts to it.

4 out of 5 stars very interesting take on Jimi's Music.......2002-02-14

Gil Evans got around doing what Miles Davis had already started doing&that was covering the Influence of Jimi Hendrix in his SOund&Style.this Set has some interesting Arrangements&Playing but it also is a bit heavy in spots.to fully Capture you gotta allow the Sound to Dominate however this Set gives Jimi Hendrix a whole different spin.it's a interesting album in that it allows another Interpretation.check it out.

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