Customer Reviews

Big Train

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

 

 

Wyton Marsalis is at the top of his game. Unlike the other reviewer this set does not feel derivative at all in fact it just gets more interesting with each listen..All the players mesh with each other just like a train. I do agree that this is a true tone poem but the fact that it is deep in Ellingtonisms does not matter to the music. After all no one complains that Wagner's Ring is deep into Beethoven. In fact the Whole 19th century owe him due.Likewise Ellington for the 20th, but just like all the great works that followed Beethoven that stand on there own so does the work of 20th century masters like Marsalis stand on there own. I use to think that the work he did with his septet would be his best, but now I feel there is no limit to what he may do and I can hardly wait for Sweet Release and Ghost Story.

Big Train is the inspiration of traveling by locomotive across the country. Each jazz-laden track is influenced by different parts of the train. The rhythm of clickitty-clack permeates throughout as well as many sounds that one would associate with a big 4-8-8-4 Big Boy.

I first heard Big Train on PBS-TV. It was very interesting to watch the orchestra perform this concept. They used different mutes and techniques to get the squeal and squeaks of the train's breaks, its engines, its whistles and steam being let off. I bought the album later remembering how much I was impressed by the video. Upon listening to the album, I found the sound effects to become annoying after awhile. They could have left the squeals to the beginning and end of the album, and had more time to actually play.

When they do play, the orchestra plays quite well. It is amazing to listen to so many instruments working together to produce music and not just plain old noise (although they do make a lot of noise on several occasions). There are some very good songs here like "Station Call", a great guitar solo on "Observation Car" and "Engine" with an amazing drum solo. This is where I was first introduced to trumpeter Ryan Kisor. Unfortunately, in an orchestra setting, it is nearly impossible to tell who is playing unless you can actually see them.

Overall, I really like this album. I could do without the sound effects though. I don't need to hear squealing breaks to know that I'm on a train. They could have focused entirely on the rhythm and accomplished the same musical image and had a great album. If you're a fan of the Lincoln Center Orchestra and a big brassy sound, don't hesitate getting aboard the Big Train.

This is a tough one because there is much to admire about this music, including its ambitions and the expertise that went into the whole enterprise. I also admire Mr Marsalis for the way in which he has articulated so intelligently about this art form over the past 20 years. Although I have only listened to the programme on Big Train three times, I do not feel the music - I hear it, but I don't feel it. There is the impression of being too careful, not to play the mistakes, against Miles' advice to his musicians to go ahead, play the mistakes. On the other hand I'm really looking forward to his live gig at the Vanguard, where I think he's at his best. In the end, if you don't feel the music, it's not enough.

wynton marsalis continues his exploration of duke ellington's style with this fourth album in the "swingin' into the 21st century" series. marsalis goes back to the romantic era of train travel when the big train could stir the heart and the imagination just by letting loose a long whistle blow coming into town. this collection of short pieces is woven into a tone poem capturing a ride on the big train, the different moods at different points along the route, the colors of the passing scenery, and as such succeeds marvelously. kudos particularly to herlin riley for capturing the rhythmic tonality of train travel on his drum kit (crossing bells to the wheels' clickety-clack, all while keeping swing time for the orchestra). the only gripe would be a lack of originality. so far, the "21st century" series has revealed new aspects of marsalis as a composer in exciting conexts and a great view of him as intepreter on the monk set, but this feels derivative after repeated listenings. you get interested in ellington's train songs ("a train," "happy go lucky local"), but wonder what marsalis might do with a train that really reflected him. still, its a fun album, great for a nostalgic trip back to the steam era.

This was my first experience of wynton marsalis and it is brilliant. The first and the last tracks are excellent , very evocative of railway engines. However the remaining tracks are also very good.Best played at300 decibels to upset the neighbours or compete with a dumb barking dog.

Let me start off by saying this album isn't going to appeal to everyone, but if you've been listening to jazz a long time like I have and you enjoy Duke Ellington, then you're going to find that there's alot to enjoy here.

Wynton Marsalis is joined by the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra, which are a very fine big band. They play the material very well. There's alot of to enjoy here. The musicians are Rodney Whitaker (bass), Herlin Riley (drums), Victor Goines (tenor and soprano saxophone), Walter Blanding Jr. (tenor and soprano saxophone), Wessell Anderson (alto saxophone), Wycliffe Gordon (trombone), Ronald Westray (trombone), Joe Temperley (clarinet) Walter Blanding Jr. (clarinet), Joe Temperle (baritone sax), Victor Goines (baritone sax), Victor Goines (clarinet), and Farid Barron (piano). All musicians completely realize Marsalis' musical vision on this great recording and all play exceptionally well.

I don't see this album as an attempt to recreate Ellington's music, but rather an hommage to his work. The Marsalis trademark is all over the place. If you've been following his work for long, then you will know what I'm talking about.

This is a fantastic piece of music and should be heard as a whole to be fully appreciated. I highly recommend this one!

Marsalis combines a story telling approach of Duke Ellington and what I call the city sound style of L. Bernstein. Bernstein put the sounds of the city into his music by using horns and percussion to create sort of a musical dissidence. Listen to much of the music on this cd and you'll hear sounds of trains as a motif throughout a ride in both metropolitan and rual parts of the country. It's a creative use of instroments to illustrate the stages of the journey and the trains themselves. I think it's well done, and worth listening to.

I Love it Marsalis Gillespie Ellington miller these guys are my favorites if you want wynton marsalis get this it's great. But really what the heck is the problem with you guys writing 2 star reviews if you have a pick between this CD and another get this one and don't listen to these guys so see you later BYE!

If I want to listen to Duke Ellington I can get out my Blanton-Webster band set and listen to music that is vital, creative, and absolutely of the moment in which it was created.

I absolutely do not want to hear Marsalis'pathetic attempt to re-create the Ellington band's magic at the end of the 20th century. Duke Ellington never attempted such a bland and rote re-creation of an earlier style of music and is probably rolling over in his grave at this crass attempt to channel up his timeless music.

If you want to hear creative repertory music - check out the Mingus Big Band - not this drivel.

When people look back on the 80's and the 90's they will scratch their heads at the attention given to Wynton Marsalis. Has there ever been a more derivitive and ineffective jazz composer lauded to this degree? No, never. The overuse of mutes and brass effects are simply that, just effects, devoid of any coherency or soul. And I defy anyone to hear this music and remember even one theme. They are all interchangable and utterly forgettable, as is most of Marsalis's music and improvisations. Add to it the insufferable liner notes and basic pretense of a gentleman who would never have been on a steam driven train in his young life presuming to write an entire (and way overlong) suite about it, and you have the essence of Wynton Marsalis, a man who desperatly wants us to believe he is a heavy jazz musician when at best he is an excellent classical trumpet player who has studied jazz and plays a bunch of strung together jazz like phrases while pontificating useless garbage that he has gleaned from conversations with Stanley Crouch and Albert Murray.