A Wild and Wooly Musical Journey from Frank Macchia
Eric Jensen | Los Angeles, CA USA | 05/05/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"You have probably heard Frank Macchia's handiwork without knowing it. He has had an extensive career orchestrating and composing for major Hollywood movies and television shows. Despite this challenging schedule he has found the time to produce and record 16 remarkably diverse albums of his own music and been nominated for two Grammy awards. The latest installment in Frank's catalog is Folk Songs For Jazzers, a humorous, iconoclastic, and virtuosic collection of tunes performed by some of the best musicians in the world.
Macchia has a wide range of musical interests, from Duke Ellington, Carl Stalling, Gyorgio Ligeti, Claus Ogerman, the theatrics of Frank Zappa, The Meters, Tower of Power, Weather Report, Cajun music, Jimi Hendrix, the post-Coltrane tenor players, and the masters of film music and twentieth century classical composition. He has a particular interest in the most fundamental streams of Americana; folk and cowboy songs, Stephen Foster, hymns...the simple, emotionally direct melodies and harmonies we all absorbed as children.
The idea for this project was to use folk songs, part of the collective musical unconscious, as anchors for his exciting, challenging and humorous explorations. Each of these tracks takes the listener on a seemingly impossible musical journey through deep grooves, monster licks, odd meters, dream sequences, lush orchestrations, and killer solos....and he makes it all work with aplomb and a sly sense of humor. Listening to one of these tracks is akin to reading an entire novel. Each arrangement is remarkably deep and the musical surprises never stop.
This album includes two fantastic vocal arrangements, Red River Valley, featuring singer Tierney Sutton, and a gorgeous version of Amazing Grace with vocals by Ellis Hall. Macchia has assembled a cast of some of the best musicians in Los Angeles. Very few players could pull of a project like this with so much soul and groove. The solos are burning and drummer Peter Erskine drives the A-List rhythm section like a Tesla Roadster.
I heartily recommend this extraordinary release. You won't be disappointed. On top of all the great musicianship it's just a whole lot of fun. I can promise you that you haven't heard anything quite like Folk Songs for Jazzers before..."
Track Listings (15) - Disc #1
