•
Rating:
Gioacchino Rossini, a well-known composer, primarily of operatic works for the theater, could never have imagined that in the mid-eighties of the twentieth century, an Englishman would arrange some of his compositions according to the canons of a typically Afro-American tradition.
I must preface by saying that I have never approached this composer since opera, to my ears, is unmanageable. It is also true that, given that our Gioacchino's compositions contain famous popular themes, many arias sounded familiar to me. One, for example, reminded me of the film "Amici Miei" where our pranksters complete it with a rather lewd text, which I leave to some commenter to enjoy transcribing.
The idea originated from an arrangement work entrusted to Mike Westbrook for a street theater representation of "William Tell," and it developed thanks to the listens that Kate (his wife) and Mike subsequently carried out of Rossini's work, where they found plenty of material to work on (drawn from Otello and The Barber of Seville) and to translate with an approach inspired by New Orleans jazz but far from the usual standard form.
So, they called on other musicians to form a typical "Brass Band": Mike on piano and tuba, Kate on tenor horn and voice, Lindsay Cooper on sopranino sax, Peter Whyman on alto sax, Paul Nieman on trombone, Andy Grappy on tuba, Peter Fairclough on drums.
This double CD was recorded in '86 during a concert held in Zurich, and in my opinion, it turned out very well. It's easy, when trying to transpose different styles and/or from different eras, to fall into a certain academic stylistic rigidity, which does not happen in these eighty-four sustained, vigorous, free minutes, expressed with great spontaneity. Jazz predominates, but nothing complex; with simple rhythms also close to song form, some counterpoint episodes, marches, Kate's grotesque singing, a dose of good humor and sympathy, even to pay homage to Rossini's personality, good table, women, and fame. To top it all off, extraordinary, light, fresh, and colorful solos (above all that of Cooper in the overture of The Barber of Seville).
In short, the Westbrooks, with their friends, draw this bridge between past and future, between the Risorgimento and postmodern, between opera and jazz, between the simplicity of certain popular melodies and the complexity of some solo phrases, reprising this composer with a fresh, fun yet reflective and emotionally engaging language. A record for (almost) everyone.
Loading comments slowly
