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| Harmonie Ensemble / New York Nutcracker Suites Ellington/Strayhorn holiday Classic "An indispensable holiday treat." "An excellent new rendition in superb sound, and what a stroke of genius to pair it with Tchaikovsky's original." "The performance of the Ellington-Strayhorn suite is suave and saucy with the players sounding like the best big band in history." 4 STARS - SoundStageExperience.com "Conductor Steven Richman and Harmonie Ensemble/New York give a gift of gold, frankincense and myrrh with The Nutcracker Suites. The award-winning conductor and music director employs the classical idiom for eight sections of the famous Tchaikovsky ballet. Richman elicits enthralling music from the large ensemble. Then, at the 22:20 mark, he and 16 jazzmen reanimate Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's famous arrangement from 1960. Swinging jazz is, of course, the fulcrum on which everything turns. All the musicians, including soloing tenor saxophonist Lew Tabackin and trumpeter Lew Soloff, use their considerable facility and enthusiasm to good purpose. It may not be Ellington-Hodges-Carney & company, but be thankful for this Nutcracker." - Downbeat HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE "If the Tchaikovsky is beautiful and celebratory, brightly lit from a well-decorated Christmas tree, the Ellington/Strayhorn swings in candle-light. The lovely Russian themes are there but festooned with bright brass voicings and gold-foil-wrapped solos." - NYC Jazz Record "Steven Richman and Harmonie Ensemble/New York have a ball, and their commendably sassy rendering is preceded by a similarly buoyant and highly personable account of the original concert suite which has one marveling anew at Tchaikovsky's vernally captivating invention and consummate mastery of orchestral poise, texture and color... [a] brilliantly stimulating pairing which is guaranteed to provide heaps of enjoyment." - Gramophone write your comments about the article :: © 2013 Jazz News :: home page |