Customer Reviews

DEATH OF SIMONE WEIL

5 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

"The Death of Simone Weil" opened up for me a world of music I nver knew existed. Neither a jazz-buff in the popular sense nor in the sense of "art" music, I came to this gripping work because of the subject.

I remember the sad years of the Holocaust, I saw in Simone Weil the saddest detritus of all -- a great soul and a great mind destroyed cy the callow indifference that followed that calamity.

I had a strange question to ask: how could a jazz style describe the tragedy of Simone Weil's life. The answer is in the text and music itself.

A touching portrayal of Simone's journey into self-destruction, of scenes and experiences of the journey, gives rise to music of unexpected sobriety -- unexpected because the jazz idiom, usually up-beat, proved elastic enough to comprise the sense of tragedy without abandonment of the jazz idiom. How Katz does thisthis is a wonder to behold.

Essentially a cantata, "The Death of Simone Weil" recalls the Bach cantatas: introduction, narrative, aria, orchestral interludes, summation -- -- this all in this work.

I recommend this CD highly to anyone with an ear for "serious" jazz of a high order.

This jazz cantata is unique. Simone Weil, the subject of this work, is a drag but Paula Tatarunis' verse is witty and clever and so is the music. At 1st you wonder how it all will fit together, because jazz seems the wrong medium for such a story. But the foil of Darrell Katz's upbeat and witty music fits perfectly with the imaginative and also strangely upbeat libretto....every word of which is understandable in Rebecca Shrimpton's straight forward singing. It's fun, in a serious sort of way. It demands repeat listenings....there's a lot of subtle stuff going on here. At the opening ad libbed moments you think "what have I got myself into here?" but it very quickly all makes sense.

If you want "moon, June, tune" or "let's dance" jazz, forget it. But if you want to explore something unique, strange, new but not so off the wall as to be incomprehensible, give it a try.

You need to hear this CD if only to be sure not to miss the sultry and compelling voice of Rebecca Shrimpton. She is truly amazing!
The work itself is ambtitious in that it employs the sorts of large-scale, multi-movement forms so rarely encountered in Jazz composition, and frequently mixes in a highly successful fashion hard-driving jazz ideas with avant-garde "Classical" techniques and harmonic language. The playing by (student!) performers from Berklee is powerful and at times mind-blowing. If you're looking for something that reaches beyond the ordinary, look no further. Katz goes where few dare (or are genuinely qualified) to tread. Take the trip.

What a self-indulgent load of dung. This is supposed to be music? It sounds like a cement mixer full of cats and hornets. Leonard Pinthe Garnell would be proud, though.