Customer Reviews

Akhenaten Suite (Live at Vision Festival XII)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Exciting compositions--jazz with Middle Eastern flourishes--coupled with the unusual frontline combination of trumpet, violin, and vibes result in some really intriguing and fun music. The music reminds me of some of Duke Ellington's 60s suites played in a 60s Blue Note vein.

Billy Bang and Roy Campbell are veterans who play from the heart.... sincere and immediate, nothing contrived. The concert is well-recorded, incidentally. Recommended

This is a great conceptual development by Roy Campbell in using eastern influences and unconventional instrumentation to produce an interesting date. Billy Bang on violin was a great choice for this date because they apparently have a musical bond. Billy Bang also showed his ability to incorporate eastern styles into his music with "Vietnam: The Aftermath" and "Vietnam: Reflections". Bryan Carrott gives the music an otherwordly feel with his vibraharp. The musicians play with passion for most of the recording. Roy Campbell occasionally soars on his trumpet. However, there is some sloppiness. "Akhenaten" is played with great fire and energy, but Roy Campbell and Billy Bang were out of sync when restating the head at the end of the song. Nevertheless this is a solid album worth the investment.

highly melodic and accessible. though i scratch my head at the egyptian titles. i didn't hear any egyptian influences. what i did hear were hispanic influences from the western world, chick corea's spain and strains of the american southwest and mexico, music for adulterated caballeros, the cowboys, particularly on the last piece 'sunset on the nile'. i kind of get the feeling campbell was reading ishmael reed's poem 'a cowboy in the boat of ra' when he composed the music and chose the titles.

on the other hand i know nothing about egyptian music, and maybe egyptian music sounds a lot like certain forms of hispanic music.

i like campbell's music. no exception here. i even recommended his music to my local library.

roy campbell on trumpet, flugelhorn, recorders and arghul
billy bang on violin
bryan carrott on vibraharp
hilliard greene on bass
zen matsuura on drums

Brilliant as the Aten (sun). The Akhenaten Suite is a masterful journey through the life of the infamous African Pharoah Akhenaten some 3,350 years ago. Akhenaten created a spiritual and artistic revolution in Kemet (Ancient Egypt) that was unparallel to any before him. The track Aten and Armana explains it all in the most ineffable way. To say that this session is "middle eastern" tinged is inaccurate. The Middle East, like the West, was heavily influenced by the enslaved African population musically. Many Middle Eastern sounds are indigenous to Africa. This idea is pivotal to understanding this session and what Campbell is doing. Musically,he is fulfilling the African tradition of the musician being a historian (as in the Djeli/Griot) and he has accomplished that in this marvelous album that gives me faith that African American classical music is far from dead.