Customer Reviews

Dawson: Negro Folk Symphony; Ellington: Suite From the "River," "Solitude"

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The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is at its best here. On this album, they pay tribute to William Levi Dawson and Duke Ellington, with great, intelligent compositions and performances. The "Negro Folk Symphony" is a deep, ear-pleasing performance with great horn work and the strings sound great. However, one of my favorites is Duke Ellington's "The River Suite". I, myself have played this piece and it is just as much fun to play as it is to listen to. My personal favorite movements are "Meander", "Giggling Rapids" and "Vortex". The whole piece is extremely soulful and still well-written. A definite favorite of mine, and it segways into a great performance of another one of Ellington's greatest pieces, "Solitude". However, the real show stopper here is "Harlem", originally written for trumpeter Cootie Williams. This features William Lucas and Walter White, two of the best all-around trumpet players today. They effortlessly extend into the stratosphere and play beautifully through this challenging arrangement. As the review from the critic says, "Talk about musicians knowing their chops!"

Fans of orchestral music and big band music will enjoy this one equally. The DSO is constantly blurring the line between the two styles and this particular outing works wonderfully. It's great to hear an album like this.

We just heard the River at the Silicon Valley Symphony, it was wonderful. Tom O