Customer Reviews

Someone to Watch Over Me

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

 

 

I liked this one so much I bought another copy for my dad. Why isn't Bennie Wallace better known? This music is top notch. Deeply textured. The music's the thing here. Wallace plays with his band, not over them. Mulgrew Miller's piano puts this album into the five star category. It's all good. So why isn't it better known?

It's easy to understand why some people don't like Bennie Wallace. He certainly takes getting used to. With a sound and approach somewhat like David Murray, especially with his tendency almost immediately to go "out" on his solos, Wallace produces not the mellow session I anticipated, but something more interesting and significant. Really, the only number that even comes close to the mellowed out approach is his duo with Mulgrew Miller on the title cut.

Pretty much everything else gets the tear-it-up-and-put-it-back-together treatment. Fine by me. Once you drop expectations for conventionally pretty music and begin to hear Wallace's (and to be fair, the rest of the band's) interpretations of the Gershwin songbook, it all begins to fall into place. High points: the 12 + minutes of "It Ain't Necessarily So," especially the great Yoron Israel 12/8 intro; the title cut; and "How Long Has This Been Going On." The band totally gets Wallace's approach and supplies wonderful support. But it would be hard to miss with this fine a group of musicians, including Mulgrew Miller, piano; Peter Washington, bass; and Yoron Israel, drums. A quite interesting take on classic American music. 4 and 1/2 stars.

Benniw Wallace,a seasoned musician who comes from so called "Old-School" Traditions with his sound a reminiscent of the sound of the great and lost tenor titans Coleman Hawkins or Ben Webster. All though there is a vast shade of juxtaposition between him and the elders on technique and range.He definitely posses his own sound and style.All though there is nothing innovative about this album on a musical point of view,it is indeed one of the most beautiful sounding albums, cleverly played and brilliantly conceptualized,this is how every cd should be produced - from the cover art,to the recording quality and the brilliant selection of songs and sidmen.This indeed a definite gem and everyone who is a fan of the old school jazz should definitely have this album in their racks!.Mulgre Miller's killer chops should be noticed.For the audience that fail to recognize all good music as this,u'd rather return it - because it can serve as a disgrace for this album as a gem in an expiring man's hand is useless.

Benniw Wallace,a seasoned musician who comes from so called "Old-School" Traditions with his sound a reminiscent of the sound of the great and lost tenor titans Coleman Hawkins or Ben Webster. All though there is a vast shade of juxtaposition between him and the elders on technique and range.He definitely posses his own sound and style.All though there is nothing innovative about this album on a musical point of view,it is indeed one of the most beautiful sounding albums, cleverly played and brilliantly conceptualized,this is how every cd should be produced - from the cover art,to the recording quality and the brilliant selection of songs and sidmen.This indeed a definite gem and everyone who is a fan of the old school jazz should definitely have this album in their racks!.Mulgre Miller's killer chops should be noticed.For the audience that fail to recognize all good music as this,u'd rather return it - because it can serve as a disgrace for this album as a gem in an expiring man's hand is useless.

I bought this cd after reading the glowing review it got on Stereophile, after listening to it for 2-3 days, I had to return it. Mr Wallace don't have a lot ideas to play, he has a certain phrase that he keeps playing over and over again in a song, on every song. 2 stars is for the rhythm section.

Producer Joe Harley is well known in the audiophile community for his recordings released under the Audioquest label, including a recording made with saxophonist Bennie Wallace, but even though the liner notes assert that the cables sued in the recording process were by Audioquest, this release has shown up not on the Audioquest label, but on the German Enja label. In any event, this recording is a really good one both musically and sonically. Supporting Wallace in this all-Gershwin program are Mulgrew Miller on piano, Peter Washington on bass, and Yoron Israel on drums. Joe Marciano did the engineering, mastering was by Bernie Grundman. Everyone involved deserves appreciation for bringing us such a rewarding program of Gershwin, whose music is well served indeed by these fine musicians and technicians.

From the opening cut, "nice Work if You Can Get It" to the final cut, "I Loves You Porgy," the music and the sound are both excellent. The title cut is a special treat, performed as a duet between Wallace and Miller, both of whom play the tune lyrically and expressively for all it's worth.

Great musicians playing great music. It's no hype, it's fact.

I read a very rosy review of this CD at Stereophile Magazine and I went to buy it but had to return it right away. Perhaps B. Wallace's style of playing is not what I care for, but I notice that he keeps repeating a phrase in a song, 3-4 times, on every song. I also tried out the Audiquest CD he made. Same licks. The quality of the recording is topnotch, but this CD tanked. I would rather to Eric Alexander, Rick Margitza anytime.