Bug Music: Music Of The Raymond Scott Quintette, John Kirby & His Orchestra, And The Duke Ellington Orchestra

Classic Cartoons, Don Byron

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 15, 1996)
• Original Release Date: October 15, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B000002I2Z
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #50,067 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
When Duke Ellington began to slip classical motifs and structures into his jazz compositions in the '30s, two fellow composers took his example as a challenge to do the same. Raymond Scott played movie music, led the house band on the popular radio show, "Your Hit Parade," and supplied much of the music for Carl Stalling's famous cartoon scores; John Kirby led a jazz combo that included Ben Webster, Russell Procope and Charlie Shavers. All three bandleaders are saluted on Bug Music. The music inside is playful and joyful, with Byron's clarinet skipping and jumping through the catchy melodies and quirky rhythms. In fact, what's most striking about the recording is not the mix of jazz and classical music, but the mix of jazz and humor, an all too rare combination these days. --Geoffrey Himes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NOT just nostalgia, January 7, 2003

By	a superintelligent shade of the color blue (minneapolis) - See all my reviews

A previous reviewer mocked this album as no different than what Wynton Marsalis does. I respectfully disagree. While Don Byron is reviving music too little known (Kirby, Scott), and honoring the well-known (Ellington), and not taking any liberties with the content... he's NOT suggesting that jazz should be frozen in time, or that anything freer than bop is just noise, the way, say, Marsalis does.

Sure, i dig this recording. But i also dig his radical, modern works like the Tuskegee Experiment, his Knitting Factory work, and his sideman work with the likes of Marc Ribot. You will NOT hear Wyton Marsalis playing with Marc Ribot or Bill Frisell!

Respect for the past, and an eye to the future - that's what jazz ought to be, i think. Contrary to opinion, i think the cool thing about this album isn't that people will listen to it and then go listen to Raymond Scott or Duke Ellington. No, the cool thing is that they'll listen to this and then open their ears up to something genuinely new and radical with Byron's gorgeous modern works.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sublime Work, January 11, 2005

By	BrooklynBen "brooklynben" (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews

I noticed that most of my Amazon reviews were negative. I tend to rant when something fails, but I rarely go online to express the joy that some products bring -- I'm clearly a grump. So I decided to write about something that elates me day in and out.

This music is beautifully played, well recorded, and my whole family enjoys it. My wife and I chose 'Charlie's Prelude' as our wedding song, our two-year-old daughter will dance anytime we put on this CD, and I've even had the great fortune to see Don Byron's group play these almost-impossible-to-execute tracks live.

Bug Music is just a terrific work. Buy it and enjoy it!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars True Cool is Ageless, February 13, 2000

By	Phil Stephens (Suzhou, China) - See all my reviews

OK, this is not exactly my usual CD purchase, but I happened to hear Byron and band playing cuts from this album on NPR's "Fresh Air", and before I knew it I was flying for the keyboard. This stuff is incredibly fun, and man, does it swing! This is also the ultimate "atmosphere" album- put this on and you will have the coolest house in town.

The selections represent some of the most enduring flowers of prewar America's Jazz Age. The arrangements are outstanding- completely true to the originals, but still managing to sound as fresh and vital and new and relevant as the first time they were played. These songs are definitely _not_ "moldy oldies" despite their years- True Cool is Ageless, and this is true cool. The musicianship is also uniformly incredible.

My favorite cuts are "The Dicty Glide", an amazingly elegant little piece even by Duke Ellington standards, and the joyously frenetic "Powerhouse", which as others have pointed out will be recognizable to anyone who has seen the classic Warner Bros. cartoons. It also never hurts to have great renditions of "St. Louis Blues" and "Cotton Club Stomp" around.

One of the greatest gifts of this album for me was an introduction to the music of Raymond Scott- I want to party with that dude. ;-{)

It isn't my favorite jazz album- and I have to disagree rather violently with the reviewer who placed it alongside 'Kind of Blue'- but it's mighty fine. I'm glad I bought it and I listen to it often. Highly recommended!