Old Songs

Bennie Wallace | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 5, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Audioquest
• ASIN: B000003HKF
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #398,188 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. My One and Only Love

2. I Love You

3. What's New?

4. Skylark

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Like his younger contemporary James Carter (and Joe Lovano, for that matter), tenor saxophonist Bennie Wallace seems able to reference a panoply of jazz legends in his playing. He's got the octave leaps that Eric Dolphy made his own, and a swing-era sense of full-bodied tone and breathy playing, to boot. His renditions of standards on Old Songs, then, sound alternately like Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins, and some genetic hybrid of about six other saxophonists. He leaps all over "I Hear a Rhapsody," with a lean trio of himself, bassist Bill Huntington, and drummer Alvin Queen. When pianist Lou Levy drops in, as on "My One and Only Love," "Skylark," and "What's New," things are far more intimate and gorgeous, showing Wallace's command of the ballad, sultry moods, and his horn's full range. This is a fantastic, underrecognized album. --Andrew Bartlett

Product Description

No Description Available.
Genre: Blues Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 28-DEC-2001

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wallace masters old songs with sheer virtuosity, September 28, 2005

By 

Wordsworth (Greenwich, CT) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Old Songs (Audio CD)

I first heard Bennie Wallace live at JazzAid:New Orleans, a benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina relief in Greenwich, CT. When he started to blow on that horn, he transported me to another world. At the JazzAid concert Bennie also performed with Alvin Queen, who plays drums on this CD, and Danton Boller. There's pure magic in this music, from "When You Wish upon a Star" to the pure, honest, reverend simplicity of "My One and Only Love" and Hoagie Carmichael's heartbreakingly, sweet "Skylark," which sounded to me like the jazz equivalent of the poetry of Keats. To say that Bennie Wallace is a tenor sax virtuoso may be an understatement because his talent, technical facility and genius for improvisation are not of this world. And you can really hear in his quality the timeless blend of invention and powerful grace in deference to the classic melodies of the old songs. If you love hearing jazz that constantly surprises you with off the charts improvisation, listen to Bennie and Alvin on this CD. The old songs never sounded so new in this collection of favorites that establish Bennie Wallace as one of the jazz greats of our day -- this jazz man is a living legend.