Customer Reviews

Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Given some prior reviews, I almost passed on this CD. Took a chance and am quite pleased. It's not Jimi, nor does it have some of the oomph of later tribute CD's. But it really has some amazing moments, and could not possibly be confused with Muzak (IMHO).

I feel that Mr. Evans captured much of Jimi's ethereal feel with instruments that are normally not associated with trippy sonorities. The arrangements of "Angel" and "Up from the Skies" are beautiful.

But my favorite bit is an upper-register tuba rendering of the melody for Voodoo Chile. Reminds me of Frank Zappa. It's priceless!

Mr. Evans delves into a number of Hendrix's lesser known tunes, and pulls out a feeling that only someone of his caliber can possibly even attempt to put forth with a big band.

My only complaints are the cheesy contemporary synthesizer, and somewhat dated production quality. But given the 1974-5 recording dates, and the difficulty of stuffing so many instruments into a bit of tape, I don't find these to be much of a distraction.

This is a wonderful, wonderful album. I have 200 jazz and blues albums loaded in my CD player, and I usually play them in some kind of rotation, so they don't get stale or overplayed, but since I've had this I just want to play it over and over again. Crosstown Traffic and Up From The Skies are probably my favorite tracks, but they are all great.

But what else can I say? Listen to some of the samples here on Amazon and judge for yourself.

One caveat: On a first superficial listening, I did get the impression that some of the tracks were a bit like that "smooth" jazz that they play on the radio all the time, but really it has a lot more guts to it.

Most of the Neo-con reviewers who give this 1 star, most likely enjoy their jazz as a museum artifact instead of Living breathing music, Most of the things complained about, are what I like the most about it. Howard Johnson's Tuba on Voodoo Chile is startling, but well executed. The arrangements are never boring, only the average Vocals on a few numbers can be complained about. If you like Funky music and have an open mind, you will not be disappointed. What was Gil Evans Thinking? I don't know, But I bet he wasn't to worried about what the stuffy jazz establishment was thinking while making it.

I can hardly listen to music anymore. going to school for music has ruined everything "commercial" for me, so all I have left is extremely avant-garde rock, jazz, classical and experimental techno. With that said, this album has some very interesting arrangements for Jimi's songs, and I actually think I like a couple of them better than the originals (sorry JH fans!). Worth a listen at least.... not a 1 star album.

1 1/2

A rare major misfire for such a distinguished name in Jazz. Just about all these horned Hendrix interpretations fall flat on their faces due to lumpy orchestrations, plodding pace, and laughable instrumentation. Evans just can't seem to find the soul inherent in Jimi's music and ends up translating the melodies with none of fire and all of the bells and whistles. Some of the misguided fusion remains bearable, a few moments actually feel justified, but a majority of time is spent cringing in utter distaste at the cornball lengths this orchestra went to butcher some great tunes.

Gil Evans got around doing what Miles Davis had already started doing&that was covering the Influence of Jimi Hendrix in his SOund&Style.this Set has some interesting Arrangements&Playing but it also is a bit heavy in spots.to fully Capture you gotta allow the Sound to Dominate however this Set gives Jimi Hendrix a whole different spin.it's a interesting album in that it allows another Interpretation.check it out.

I really love Gil Evans big band work on the Miles Davis albums: Sketches of Spain, Porgy & Bess, and Miles Ahead. These are probably my three favorite Jazz albums. I also love Gil Evans own work on Out of the Cool and on Gil Evans and Ten.

Jimi Hendrix has been my idol since my early teens. Electric Ladyland is my all time favorite album. I've worn through three vinyl and three CD editions.

So you would think I would really enjoy this album, right? Wrong!!! Somewhere this concept went terribly, terribly, awfully, horribly wrong. Instead of Cool Jazz, instead of hip Fusion, we have really bad Muzak versions of Hendrix.

There are 12 tracks on the CD. "Angel" is a solid instrumental muzak version of the Hendrix tune with horns adequately replacing the guitar. "Crosstown Traffic" is where the pain of listenting to this album really starts. I am not sure who the vocalist is, but he completely loses the rythm of the song. Evans pulls in an electric guitar to try and save the track...but it is just painful to listening. Next is a medley of "Castles Made of Sand" and "Foxey Lady" that is almost unrecognizable and makes me want to pound the door-open button on the elevator. "Up from the Skies" is next. This is also unrecognizable and unlistenable. "1983-A Merman I should Turn to Be" is pure torture with what sounds like a Ondes-Martinot from a bad 1950's horror movie taking the lead. Again, an electric guitar is interjected midway through the song to try and save it. "Voodoo Chile" is pure blasphemy. I think the vocalist is trying to hum the tune through a voice-box. The tempo is too slow and the tension and power of the song is completely lost. Horns just interject noise and the electric guitar totally fails to save the song. This is pure torture. "Gypsy Eyes" almost works. It isn't muzak -- but it does sound like something the house-band on a 1970's TV variety show would come up with for this song. Midway through the song, it degenerates with some free jazz style horn playing that is all wrong for one of Jimi's tightest songs. "Little Wing" is Jimi's most Muzak friendly composition. Evans could have made this a sweet Cool Jazz interpretation. Instead, he uses way too much bass, and has his horn section blowing too hard. A real disappointment. There are four more bonus tracks: "Angel", "Castles Made of Sand", "Up From the Skies," and "Gypsy Eyes" which lamely rehash earlier parts of the CD.

This album just doesn't work. It is bad Hendrix, it is bad Gil Evans, it is a bad tribute, it is bad Jazz, and it is bad Muzak.

Only a bad case of vertigo - complete loss of equilibrium - during the planning, arranging, recording and mixing of this horrific album could explain Gil Evans'participation. The music is truly awful. All you have to do is listen to the horn intro of "Voodoo Chile" (sic) to know what the whole album is all about. Teaming up Gil Evans with Jimi Hendrix is as absurd as having David Bowie and Bing Crosby sing Little Drummer Boy as a duet.