The Amadeus Project (Global Mix)
Guy Barker
Released October 29, 2007
2008 Parliamentary Jazz Awards Album of the Year
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kQmNHQkDiBMj2jgi8g4OcVwEcFmB9kuys
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/5CNkv2Ye8g5W0JzLh437zP?si=Z0MB_DhNTm-Glw0kx5XTNQ
About:
If you were to draw lines to connect the dots all of Guy Barker’s various projects and ensembles, you would end up with a wall looking like one of those giant whiteboards beloved of TV police dramas. Take a close look, though, and you would find, sitting at the centre of this musical web like the mother of all arachnids, the group of top-drawer jazz players known as the Guy Barker Big Band. This versatile ensemble’s roots go back to 2001, when an international septet featured on Guy Barker’s Mercury nominated album Soundtrack. Although two pieces from that – Underdogs and the film noir tribute Sounds in Black and White were showcased with augmented line ups at the Barbican and the Brecon Jazz Festival, this was actually one of Guy’s many orchestras (i.e., with added strings), although the concept of expanding the septet was clearly a step on the road to the creation of the Guy Barker Big Band. His next major project was the album The Amadeus Project in 2007, which featured dZf, a cheeky Runyonesque re-working of The Magic Flute, which didn’t feature any of Mozart’s music, but did come with a sassy narrative by American actor Michael Brandon. Again, the addition of star soloists such as fiery Italian alto player Rosario Giuliani suggested something other than a regular big band, but it was definitely in the ballpark.
Track Listing:
Disc 1
1. Prologue 00:45
2. Overture: The T Dance 05:46
3. A Guy, Three Chicks and a Big Snake 07:14
4. Part 1: The Viper 04:23
5. Part 2: Three Ladies-In-Wanting 04:13
6. Part 3: Bird Carter 08:47
7. Part 4: Queen Righteous 05:53
8. Ghost Dance 06:03
9. Trick of the Night 07:27
10. On Temple Street 04:25
11. Many Splendid Things 07:06
12. Power Trip 03:18
13. The Last Waltz 05:28
14. Coda: Everything Happens to Bobby 00:53
Disc 2
1. Wolfie 10:19
2. How Sweet the Breeze 06:22
3. Piccolo – Part 1: Serpent’s Teeth 06:14
4. Part 2: Les Trois Dames 05:16
5. Part 3: Pamina’s Portrait 07:40
6. Part 4: Finale ‘In Colin’s Town’ 08:14
7. Cruel Stars and Sighs 08:59
8. Weeping and Wailing 10:04
Personnel:
Guy Barker: conductor, trumpet
Nathan Bray: trumpet
Tom Rees Roberts: trumpet
Byron Wallen: trumpet
Baraby Dickinson: trombone
Alistair White: trombone
Mark Frost: bass trombone
Rosario Giuliani: alto saxophone
Graeme Blevins: tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute
Per ‘Texas’ Johansson: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, flute, clarinet
Phil Todd: baritone saxophone, tuba, flute, alto flute, piccolo flute
Jim Watson: piano, organ, Fender Rhodes
Phil Donkin: bass
Ralph Salmins: drums
Michael Brandon: narrator (Disc 1-01 to Disc 1-14)
A project that combines 2 of Barker’s commissions; one for San Diego’s Mainly Mozart Festival and the other for BBC 3’s ‘Jazz Line Up’ – ‘DZf’ a 75-minute suite for Jazz Orchestra and Narrator, a ‘jazz noir’ re-imagining of The Majic Flute, Mozart’s final opera (Die Zauberflote).
‘The Amadeus Suite’ is a set of inspired by characters
from Mozart’s operas.
Music
composed, arranged and conducted by Guy Barker
Script by Robert Ryan
Recorded at Angel Recording Studios on 8, 14 & 15
May 2007
Mixed at Angel Recording Studios 24 & 25 July and 13 & 14 August 2007
Produced by Steve Price & Guy Barker
Engineer: Steve Price
Assistant Engineer: Jez Murphy
Photography Byby Rob O’Connor
Review:
Would it be fair to say that British jazz trumpeter and composer Guy Barker has an obsession with Mozart? Certainly Mozart is the inspiration for Barker’s original compositions on this heavy weight double CD. But there’s nothing dark or compulsive about this music. Mozart is a good starting point, as this music is witty, fluid, multi-coloured and with a light, deft touch.
There are two big suites here. The first CD “dZf” is loosely inspired by The Magic Flute, transposed to a fifties jazz noir setting and featuring a short story written by Robert Ryan and narrated Michael Brandon. You can’t fault the quality of Barker’s writing or the band’s playing. But the story itself, featuring an archetypal doomed trumpet player, is a little hackneyed. It also contains one awkward moment, at the end of “Power Trip” when the band switch into a double time latin groove and can’t quite get it. But there are some great moments in particular “Ghost Dance” featuring some wonderfully gruff saxophones.
The second CD “The Amadeus Suite” is even better: Sound pictures inspired by various characters in Mozart’s work with no narrator getting in the way. Here the range of Barker’s writing is even more adventurous, for example the gritty discordant fanfares at the start of “Serpent’s Teeth”. The band have great fun on the muted brass growling of “Les Trois Dames”. The start of “Pamina’s Portrait” is beguiling and original and the rest is just plain lovely.
This is British jazz with all its virtues and a few of its faults. It’s big, brassy and confident. If you like flutes and Hammond organs you’ve got ’em. If you like clarinets and trombones you’ll find them too. While it’s slightly rough round the edges in a couple of places, you can’t fault its ambition, creativity or sheer rumbustiousness.
Barker’s own playing throughout is unflagging, technically impeccable and shows a mastery of all styles and tones. All in all, it’s impressive.
Nick Reynolds (bbc.com)
