Artist.......: Matt Haimovitz & Uccello
Album........: Meeting of the Spirits
Label........: Oxingale
Genre........: Jazz
Catnr........: Ox2017
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: Mar-24-2011
str.date.....: Nov-02 2010
quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: www.matthaimovitz.com
track title time
01. Open Country Joy 05:57
02. Half Nelson 03:24
03. W.R.U. 03:37
04. Blues in a minor 07:00
05. Meeting of the Spirits 08:29
06. Blood Count 06:39
07. Triptych 05:24
08. Liza 02:38
09. Haitian Fight Song 07:57
Runtime 51:05 min
Size 66,6 MB
Release Notes:
Renowned for his fascinating and far-reaching
musical adventures and fearlessly virtuosic
performances whether in a club or on one of the
world's great stages cellist Matt Haimovitz
harnesses his eight-piece ensemble of cello
warriors" (San Jose Mercury News), Uccello, for a
new program of jazz classics in original
arrangements by Rome Prize-winning composer David
Sanford. The cellos wail, slide, and swing in an
all-new big band soundùjoined by dazzling musical
contributions from guitar legend John McLaughlin,
percussionist Matt Wilson and Jan Jarczyck on
keyboardsù in works by Ornette Coleman, Charles
Mingus, John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu), Miles Davis,
Billy Strayhorn and other jazz greats.
Sanford and Haimovitz's adventurous collaborations
include the cellist's acclaimed Anthem and Odd
Couple recordings on Oxingale Records but began
with the groundbreaking Buck the Concerto series:
ôWhen I first heard David's big band music, I had
to join in," says Haimovitz, ôthe result was
Scherzo Grosso, a concerto for cello and 20-piece
big-band. For Meeting of the Spirits I gave David
carte blanche to choose and arrange a big-band
program for cello ensemble and his acute ear and
innate sense of rhythmic electricity has given us a
new sound and fresh take on some jazz classics.
Many moments stand out, like the Bach-like
four-part fugue in Blues in A Minor (1973)ùfor only
2 celli!ùor the hauntingly beautiful slow
glissandos of Blood Count (1967). John McLaughlin
has been a friend for years and I am particularly
thrilled to have two rich adaptations of his
classics, Meeting of the Spirits and Open Country
Joy where he joins us in a stunning, masterful
solo, almost 40 years after the song's original
release."
Additional highlights on the new recording include
W.R.U. (1961) by Ornette Coleman featuring the
inspired Matt Wilson on percussion; George
Gershwin's Liza (original, 1929), taking musical
influences from Django Reinhardt and Stephane
Grappelli; Charles Mingus' Haitian Fight Song
(1957), drawn from the 1963 version for a larger
ensemble; Miles Davis' 1948 bebop composition Half
Nelson, re-cast as in the style of his 1949 debut
as a leader in the Birth of the Cool sessions; and
Triptych, an original piece by Sanford for
Haimovitz and Uccello. Recorded at McGill
University in Montreal and at the legendary Stadium
Red in Harlem, NY, Meeting of the Spirits is
produced by multi-Grammy Award winner David Frost.
As Oxingale Records launches its newest CD in
stores, November 9 will also mark the launch of
OXINGALE MUSICùwww.music.oxingale.comùan online
source for an exceptional range of contemporary
sheet music for voice, solo instruments, chamber
ensemble, choir, orchestra, big band and big bands
of cellos. The core of Oxingale Music is a
collection of works for cello written for,
premiered by, and often recorded by Matt Haimovitz,
including the new Sanford arrangements heard on
Meeting of the Spirits. Oxingale Music also offers
a complete catalog of sheet music by composers Luna
Pearl Woolf, Pulitzer prize-winner Lewis Spratlan
and others.
MATT HAIMOVITZ is acclaimed for both his tremendous
artistry and as a musical visionaryùpushing the
boundaries of classical music performance,
championing new music and initiating groundbreaking
collaborations. From his debut at the age of 13, as
soloist with Zubin Mehta and the Israel
Philharmonic and his first recording with James
Levine and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, for
Deutsche Grammophon, Haimovitz has since gone on to
perform on the world's most esteemed stages.
Haimovitz made his Carnegie Hall debut when he
substituted for his teacher, the legendary Leonard
Rose, in Schubert's String Quintet in C, alongside
Isaac Stern, Shlomo Mintz, Pinchas Zukerman and
Mstislav Rostropovich. In 2000, Haimovitz made
waves with his Bach ôListening-Room" Tour, for
which, to great acclaim, Haimovitz took Bach's
beloved cello suites out of the concert hall and
into clubs across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.
Haimovitz's 50-state Anthem tour in 2003 celebrated
living American composers, and featured his
arrangement of Jimi Hendrix's ôStar-Spangled
Banner." Haimovitz was the first classical artist
to play at New York's infamous CBGB club, in a
performance filmed by ABC News ôNightline UpClose."
Haimovitz's award-winning recording career
encompasses more than two dozen albums on Deutsche
Grammophon and his own independent label, founded
with composer/producer Luna Pearl Woolf, Oxingale
Records.
Matt Haimovitz's all-cello ensemble, UCCELLO,
features the next generation of cellists from the
Schulich School of Music at McGill University,
where Haimovitz is Professor of Cello. Uccello has
performed on Boston's Celebrity Series, New York's
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Jazz at
Lincoln Center, as well as clubs such as
Arlington's Iota, Seattle's Tractor Tavern, and
Eugene's Sam Bond's Garage. Uccello has joined
Haimovitz on two Oxingale recordings, Goulash! and
VinylCello; the first, a classical best seller,
appeared on the Billboard charts.
Pittsburgh-born composer DAVID SANFORD's works have
been performed by the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra
under Kent Nagano, the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra
led by Marin Alsop, the Chicago Symphony Chamber
Players, the San Francisco Contemporary Music
Players, the Chamber Society of Lincoln Center,
jazz musicians such as Bob Mintzer, George Garzone,
Pheeroan ak-Laff, and the Corvini/Iodice Roma Jazz
Ensemble, among numerous others. He received a
Ph.D. from Princeton University. He is the leader
and founder of the Pittsburgh Collective and
Associate Professor of Music at Mount Holyoke
College in South Hadley, MA.