Here's an attractive trio of contemporary American chamber works, straightforward that make use of tonality in various guises, as well as jazz and other vernacular influences, but explore both novel concepts and rigorous formal devices and could not in any way be called crossover pieces. The casual buyer may wonder about the famous name Brubeck on the program, and indeed Chris Brubeck is the son of jazz pianist Dave Brubeck. His Danza del Soul, for violin, clarinet, piano, cello, bass, and percussion, is only lightly jazz ...
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Here's an attractive trio of contemporary American chamber works, straightforward that make use of tonality in various guises, as well as jazz and other vernacular influences, but explore both novel concepts and rigorous formal devices and could not in any way be called crossover pieces. The casual buyer may wonder about the famous name Brubeck on the program, and indeed Chris Brubeck is the son of jazz pianist Dave Brubeck. His Danza del Soul, for violin, clarinet, piano, cello, bass, and percussion, is only lightly jazz-flavored, however; instead, it is influenced by his father's pieces for classical ensembles and also by the whimsical spirit of Dave Brubeck's own classical influences, chief among them Darius Milhaud. The booklet is helpful in setting the scene, which involves a mock warm-up from the clarinet and mock-annoyed interactions with the other instruments. The finale, entitled "Chickens," of Michael Gandolfi's Line Drawings (for violin, clarinet, and piano) is jazzier than anything in the...
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