The Great Pretender

Artist: Lester Bowie
Label: Ecm Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Original recording reissued
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 781182120921
EAN: 0781182120921
ASIN: B0000031RG

Release Date: 1994-10-25

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Tracks:

The Great Pretender
It's Howdy Doody Time
When The Doom (Moon) Comes Over The Mountain/A) Doom?/B) When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain
Rios Negroes
Rose Drop
Oh, How The Ghost Sings

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Customer Reviews:

Great !.......2006-03-08

I agree that this record is not for everyone, but is it a reason to give it less than 5 stars? Sure, the title has very little to do with the complex free-jazz oriented harmonies of Lester Bowie, and the vocals represent a drop of water in his ocean.

But this is without a doubt a brilliant record, great for those in need of some relaxing, challenging and subtely burlesque music.

Made in 1981 in Germany on the usually-no-risk-taking ECM label, "The Great Pretender" is an powerful, haunting and fully enjoyable record.

you'll never listen to the Platters the same way again.......2000-11-26

Lester was pomo before there was pomo. The Amazon.com reviewer says that its suspended between "kitsch and concerto." Exactly -- Lester Bowie obliterated such distinctions. The standout cut is the absolutely monumental reworking of the Platters' "The Great Pretender" featuring doo-wop vocals, a variety of slurred half-valve trumpet techniques a la Bubber Miley/Cootie Williams, and a scorching double time bari sax solo by Hamiet Bluiett. (Be forewarned -- when this came on the radio one afternoon in the car, the overblowing part of the solo had a friend of mine threatening to drive the car off a bridge if I didn't turn it off.) The piece ends with Bowie sounding like Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" intoning "Hey, baby I'm here...I...have...arrived...he,he,he."

"Rios Negros" is based on a repeated vamp; Bowie solos, pianist Donald Smith solos, and then Bowie comes back with a muted solo to finish. "Rose Drop" and "Oh, How the Ghost Sings" are exercises in atmospherics. "Howdy Doody Time" and "When the Doom (Moon) Comes Over the Mountain" are along the "Great Pretender" model of deconstructing pop culture themes.

This is a great record, but forewarned is forearmed -- it is not for everyone.

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