Customer Reviews

Spring Is Here (Shall We Dance?)

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

 

 

I have followed Bates career since his Loose tubes, Human Chain & Bruford's earthworks days and i have noticed how little by little this composer challenges himself more and more with each passing project...to the point where his work is totally his own world ...and a fast, super complex and a bit hectic world it is! This newest project is surely not for everyone (either in Jazz or rock or jazz/rock camps). The compositions need a big band with several singers and a knack for breezing through complex charts without stumbling.

I liked it but it requires for the listener to be in a certain mood, i believe. Try to listen to a few samples before buying as this is truly an acquired taste.

Being a tireless advocate for the music of Django Bates, I strongly recommend this CD and I'm happy to see it finally offered on Amazon USA. Django's music is truly inspired and very fully-packed. As a composer and arranger, he is one of the best in the genre of jazz or otherwise and has a unique voice that must be heard. This material is simultaneously light, dark, complex, simple, funny and serious as hell: all of it penned with intention and flawlessly performed by a big band with vocals! Anyway, my words cannot quite describe what lies within this disc. I urge any serious listener to check it out and play it loud! I would also recommend any other Django recording you can get your hands on.

This is Django's first CD since joining the faculty as Professor of Rhythimic Music at Denmark's Rhythmic Music Conservatory and features its post-graduate big band called StoRMChaser. And what a CD it is! Absolutley amazing and, as an arranger myself, filled with awe-inspiring music.

IMHO, Django is without a doubt the most creative, innovative and astonishing composer/arranger of our time, bar none. These charts make even the best current big band writing in the U.S. sound boring and uninspired, and I don't say this lightly.

I highly recommend this album. It's very complex and yet very accessible. And rhythmically, it's in a class all by itself. I'll spare you a song by song commentary. Just buy it and listen. You won't be disappointed.