4.0 out of 5 stars
Guilty pleasures for the weird of ear, January 5, 2009
This review is from: Sounds from the Big House (Audio CD)
I can't really help it. I like multiphonics on saxophones, microtonalities, block chords, wide intervallic leaps, wildly dissonant arranging. I am also partial to beautifully stated melodies and wildly romantic and lush orchestrations. In other words, I am an inconsistent mess when it comes to a musical esthetic.
Thank doG for the Peggy Lee Band. Consider the musicians:
Peggy Lee- cello and compositions
Brad Turner- trumpet and flugelhorn
Jeremy Berkman- trombone
Tony Wilson- guitar
Chris Tarry- electric bass
Dylan van der Shuyff- drums and percussion
Francois Houle- clarinet
Robin Reid- marimba
This is a very flexible sound palette that allows Ms. Lee to take all sorts of composerly risks. The results are wonderfully diverse. Listen to the beautiful tone of her cello against Wilson's arpeggios on Night Skate. Or the beauty of Turner's ballad feature on Little Reminders (Wilson is again very effective just playing a simple little melodic pattern- he is essential to the overall success of this CD). Then compare with the start of Bug Hunt/Target Island which features the group throwing out little shards of sound at each other. It is too bad that Amazon has no samples on this one. Suffice it to say that each composition is unique.
What can I say? This group of people are doing something wonderful with each other. They are giving life to one woman's musical vision- a vision that is diverse, curious and lovely. I can only suggest that you try one of the Peggy Lee Band's CD. I recently reviewed their newest work, New Code and it is equally good.
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