Private Astronomy: A Vision of the Music of Bix Beiderbecke

Geoff Muldaur

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 30, 2003)
• Original Release Date: September 30, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B0000C3I2R
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #61,367 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Boola Boola, October 11, 2003

By	Robert H. Sayers (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was afraid that I was going to hate this CD. After all, those of us who love (or even know about) Bix's "Modern Suite" have had precious little to listen to, apart from Ralph Sutton's evocative piano solos (which, so far as I know, haven't made their way yet to CD) and Bunny Berigan's 1938 ensemble arrangements for "In a Mist," "Flashes," and "Candlelights" (plus "Davenport Blues"). My worry was that a bunch of folkies (Geoff Muldaur, Loudon Wainwright III, Martha Wainwright, et. al.) would turn this project into something precious or surround the "Suite" with hokum nonsense. Well, I was dead wrong. Muldaur's chamber arrangements of the instrumental pieces are both respectful of the originals and beautifully evocative in their own right. And the other "period" material, with spirited playing by some top-flight jazz musicians, is neither gimmickry nor filler. The biggest surprise was how well Muldaur's extraordinary vocals complement this material: Who needs Bing when you've got Geoff to sing "Waiting at the End of the Road"? And the same can be said for Martha Wainwright's wonderfully saucy rendering of "There Ain't No Sweet Man That's Worth the Salt of My Tears." This is a terrific project, fully realized. It's already in heavy rotation on my CD player.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful reimagining of some great old music, January 30, 2005

By	Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Don't pay any attention to the crabbypants, crusty jazz purists who are poo-poohing this disc. They're simply being humorless and unimaginative, which pretty much puts them in 180-degree opposition to this lovely little record. I liked this a lot. It was very sweet, very creative and very listenable, and if it (gasp!!!) doesn't sound exactly like Bix Beiderbecke did, well golly! Why not go buy a Beiderbecke album as well, and quit carping about how this "doesn't live up to" the man, the myth and the legend? There's really no reason we can't enjoy BOTH the original music and this warm, intelligent tribute to Beiderbeck's restless genius. They each have a lot to offer. I, for one, look forward to listening to this record for years to come.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great music, but not a lot of it, October 6, 2003

By A Customer

First the good news: the music is wonderful. Great playing, and a terrific mix of standard jazz styles (There Ain't No Sweet Man, in particular) with Beiderbecke's chamber explorations. It's definitely worth many listenings.

The not-so-good news. I didn't think it was technically possible to only put 43 minutes of music on a compact disk. Seriously, the album seems awfully short for the money.