Ct Grosso (D) [Live]

Herbie Mann (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 21, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Wounded Bird Records
• ASIN: B00004KH85
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #269,929 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Concerto Grosso in D Blues

2. Sense of No Return

3. Wailing Wall

4. My Little Ones

Editorial Reviews

Not only is this rare LP one of Herbie Mann's own favorites, it is one of the most moving classical/jazz fusions ever recorded. Right after the 1968 Berlin Jazz Days festival, Mann, his quintet, co-composer/conductor William Fischer, and a team of 80 Berlin musicians entered Teldec studios to record the huge, ambitious title piece, a concerto that successfully spans the decades from Tchaikovsky to Stockhausen, and from New Orleans to free jazz. With some stretches of group improvisation, the piece has structure, memorable yet surprisingly simple motifs, and holds together even when stretched to the limits of coherence by general outbreaks of freeform. To fill out the album, Mann and Fischer came up with three chamber pieces that if anything are even more successful than the main course. The best of the lot, the wistful "My Little Ones" (written for Mann's children), contains what is perhaps Mann's most haunting solo on record, at once loving and soaring, backed perfectly by Fischer's economical writing for double string quartet. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A welcome surprise, June 23, 2000

By 

Eric S. Forte "Eandbee" (Oak Park, IL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ct Grosso (D) (Audio CD)

As the owner of a well-worn, at least 25 year old vinyl copy, I never thought I'd see this on CD. I'm sure there are some other Herbie Mann fans who would be just as pleased as I am to see this disc. The title song is an outstanding classical jazz piece. You can hear influences from New Orleans to Germany (where it was actually recorded) and everywhere in between. The orchestra and Herbie's late '60s quintet work together beautifully. The three shorter pieces take you on a relaxing tour through the Middle East. If all the people in that region sat down to listen to this music, there would be a lot less fighting! Now that this disc is out, I'll be waiting for some more surprises. Turtle Bay and Muscle Shoals Nitty Gritty would be nice. How about it, Atlantic?

5.0 out of 5 stars Jazz and Classical combined into one, November 7, 2011

By 

Janet Chandler (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ct Grosso (D) (Audio CD)

Herbie Mann had a great career as a jazz musician and he was always looking for new directions to take playing the flute and jazz in general. Mann was always pushing the boundries of jazz music looking to fuse it with other styles of music. Rock, soul, world beat among other genres. There is however no album I feel that Herbie Mann ever recorded that combined two different genres of music so well and so mesmerizing as "Concerto Grosso In D Blues". A project that Mann along with William Fischer under took in 1968 while in Germany after the Berlin Jazz Days Festival they joined forces creating a musical masterpiece combining Jazz with Classical music.

It is sadly probably the most least known of all of Herbie Mann's albums. Mann himself rated "Concerto Grosso" as one of his personal favorite albums that he had done and for me out of all the outstanding records he recorded during his career, and he had many, it is my all time favorite Herbie Mann album.

The main piece of music is almost 28 minutes long and has the Herbie Mann quintet sitting it with a symphonic orchestra conducted by Fischer. The beginning and end to the composition has Mann and his group playing along with the 80 piece orchestra. As they play you hear the basic elements of Jazz swirling in and blending with the symphonic Orchestra producing a musical experience that compels you to sit and listen and be drawn into the sounds the two groups are making.

The middle of "Concerto Grosso" has the orchestra stepping aside briefly while Herbie and his quintet break into a kind of freeform style of jazz in which each member of the quintet takes a turn with a solo performance. As you listen to the piece and to the ebb and flow of the music you may well come to find as I do that this isn't just a performance but a musical experience.

In addition to the Concerto the disc also includes three chamber pieces to help round out the record. The first of these is "Sense Of No Return" with the quintet performing with a brass ensemble and was composed by William Fischer. The other two chamber pieces were written by Herbie Mann and combines his Jazz quintet with a double string quartet.

I cannot recommend this album strongly enough. Whether you love Jazz or Classical music you will find "Concerto Grosso In D Blues" compelling and a joy to listen too.

4.0 out of 5 stars Man o' Mann!, October 31, 2011

By 

Bruce London - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Ct Grosso (D) (Audio CD)

This recording is beautiful baby! No, Herbie never wails, Roy Ayers plays smooth, Sonny Sherock doesn't go Jimi Hendrix on you. The arrangements are cool, the suite sweet and lovely, it's a mellow fellow and the orchestra feels it just right. If you like the Herbie Mann with Strings album you will enjoy this-or vice versa. Not essential but very cool.