Cross Country Suite

Buddy DeFranco | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 12, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nelson Riddle
• ASIN: B001ACOPR6
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #248,093 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Tall Timber

2. Smokey Mountain Country

3. The Rockies

4. The Great Lakes

5. The Great Plains

6. Gulf Coast

7. The Mississippi

8. Down East

9. El Camino Real

10. Metropolis

11. Longhorn

Editorial Reviews

Joined by Don Fagerquist, Herb Geller and other top dogs on the West Coast, this bop clarinetist swung through his friend Nelson Riddle's America-inspired suite on this rare 1959 LP. You'll dig their inspired collaboration as you hear The Mississippi; Gulf Coast; The Great Lakes; The Great Plains; The Rockies , and more!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent CD, August 15, 2008

By 

Robert Herring - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cross Country Suite (Audio CD)

This music brings back many memories and I thank the family for doing the work necessary in reissuing the CD. It is a great listen!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning composition, August 23, 2009

By 

Joy N. Day "music lover" (Riverside, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cross Country Suite (Audio CD)

First heard this at a jazz concert at Northwestern University. Blown away by the virtuosity of the clarinetist and the changing moods of the piece. Nelson Riddle was not only an outstanding orchestrator for the singing greats of the era, but this prize-winning piece of music has indeed captured the various moods of our wonderful land.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unknown gem, July 18, 2008

By 

Michael Rose "Big Ears for Jazz 'n' Classical" (East Barnet, Herts United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cross Country Suite (Audio CD)

I've been listening to jazz of virtually all descriptions for well over 50 years and, if I haven't heard most of the major recordings of the past 90 years, at least I can say that I am aware of them. Well... this one came (courtesy of an interview with Buddy DeFranco on www.jazzwax.com) as a complete surprise - never heard it, or heard of it (didn't help that it was probably never issued in Europe, maybe because the programme for the suite was considered too American).

Ask me for a knee-jerk reaction to the names (a) "Nelson Riddle" or (b) "Buddy DeFranco" and my answers would probably be (a) "great arranger for top-ranked popular singers like Sinatra or Cole" and (b) "technically brilliant clarinet virtuoso often guilty of putting the music at the service of his technique". OK, even I will admit to being wrong on occasion - Riddle's originals are fully worthy to stand on their own and may be best described as big-band jazz (plus symphonic embellishments) by way of outdoors-Americana courtesy of Aaron Copland and - occasionally - big city stuff a la Gershwin. These set off DeFranco's playing perfectly and at no time does his technique overstep the mark.

This is as good as it gets - recommended enthusiastically.