Artist.......: Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues
Album........: Corky Siegel's Traveling Chamber Blues Show !
Label........: Alligator
Genre........: Blues
Catnr........: n/a
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: 24-04-2006
str.date.....: 00-08-2005
quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: http://www.alligator.com/
track title time
01. Opus 17.2 05:29
02. 5 planets in harmonica convergence 06:35
03. Manhattan island 10:10
04. Serenade 10:59
05. The woofy girl stroll 12:33
06. Train 05:33
07. Opus 4 (1,2 of opus 8) 11:15
Runtime 62:34 min
Size 81,6 MB
Release Notes:
from the website :
BIOGRAPHY:
Composer, pianist, harmonica virtuoso and
singer/songwriter Corky Siegel has been bringing
his critically acclaimed, blues-influenced music to
worldwide audiences for three decades. His early
years with the Siegel-Schwall Blues Band, his solo
performances, and his groundbreaking
blues-classical collaborations with conductor Seiji
Ozawa are all a reflection of Corky's wide-ranging
talent. His Alligator release, Corky Siegel's
Chamber Blues, integrates the delicate structure of
and complex qualities of chamber music with the
emotion and spontaneity of the blues.
Blending classical and blues was not a departure
for Corky, but a continuation of his life's work.
According to Corky, "It seems like my thirty years
of writing and performing have just been
preparation for Chamber Blues. I have never done
anything that has been so right for me before,
creatively. It's like I've been working up to this
since I started."
Renowned for his recordings in the late 1960s and
early 1970s with the Siegel-Schwall Blues Band,
Corky counted many famous musicians as his personal
friends, including Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and
many others. Among them was Chicago Symphony
Orchestra conductor Seiji Ozawa, who would often
drop by Corky's gigs and stay the whole night.
"Ozawa wanted my band to jam with his band, the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra." Sure enough, the first
jam took place in 1968, when Siegel-Schwall and the
Chicago Symphony played William Russo's Three
Pieces For Blues Band And Symphony Orchestra, and
it was a smash success.
After the successful performance with the Chicago
Symphony, Siegel-Schwall Blues Band went on to
perform with the New York Philharmonic in 1969.
"You have to remember, " says Corky, "this was in
the 1960s. We went on stage with long hair,
amplifiers and vests without shirts. When the
subscription audience who was there to see the
symphony saw my band, they booed. But when we
finished, the reaction was so strong that the
president of the Symphony Association said it was
the longest and most intense standing ovation he
had ever heard in Lincoln Center."
In 1971 the Deutsche Grammophon label recorded
Three Pieces For Blues Band And Orchestra with the
San Francisco Symphony under conductor Seiji Ozawa.
The album was released in 1973 and it quickly
became a major seller. In 1976, Siegel recorded
William Russo's Street Music with maestro Ozawa and
the San Francisco Symphony. The album won the
French government's Grand Prix du Disque when it
was released in 1979. The album also received the
Recording of Special Merit citation in Stereo
Review in 1979 and again in 1988 for the
re-released compact disc.
Corky has written and performed works for many
symphonies including the San Francisco Symphony and
the National Symphony Orchestra. His music has been
choreographed by four different international
ballet companies and has been used for many
national TV specials and documentaries including
Carl Sagan's Cosmos, the ABC television series
Missing Persons, and even the 1988 Olympic men's
figure skating competition. He also accepted
commissions to write experimental blues/classical
material for such organizations as the City of San
Francisco and Chicago's Grant Park Symphony.
It was Corky's association with the Grant Park
Symphony in 1983 that first led to the creation of
Chamber Blues. "Suddenly I had this explosion of
inspiration. I visualized an emotional classical
blues blend that created a new form with the sweet
wooden sound and intimacy of a string quartet. And
then I was compelled to focus on the elements of
blues and classical that complement each other."
Siegel and his string quartet with percussionist
(and Ramsey Lewis alum) Frank Donaldson, challenge
the conventional boundaries of both classical music
and blues. Chamber Blues has been described as a
cross between Muddy Waters and Mozart "The whole
concept of Chamber Blues is not experimental," says
Corky, "it's natural and palatableàit's neither
classical nor blues--it's just music."