Search - Geoff Muldaur, Futuristic Ensemble :: Private Astronomy: A Vision of the Music of Bix Beiderbecke

Boola Boola

Robert H. Sayers | Arlington, VA USA | 10/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was afraid that I was going to hate this CD. After all, those of us who love (or even know about) Bix's "Modern Suite" have had precious little to listen to, apart from Ralph Sutton's evocative piano solos (which, so far as I know, haven't made their way yet to CD) and Bunny Berigan's 1938 ensemble arrangements for "In a Mist," "Flashes," and "Candlelights" (plus "Davenport Blues"). My worry was that a bunch of folkies (Geoff Muldaur, Loudon Wainwright III, Martha Wainwright, et. al.) would turn this project into something precious or surround the "Suite" with hokum nonsense. Well, I was dead wrong. Muldaur's chamber arrangements of the instrumental pieces are both respectful of the originals and beautifully evocative in their own right. And the other "period" material, with spirited playing by some top-flight jazz musicians, is neither gimmickry nor filler. The biggest surprise was how well Muldaur's extraordinary vocals complement this material: Who needs Bing when you've got Geoff to sing "Waiting at the End of the Road"? And the same can be said for Martha Wainwright's wonderfully saucy rendering of "There Ain't No Sweet Man That's Worth the Salt of My Tears." This is a terrific project, fully realized. It's already in heavy rotation on my CD player."

Great music, but not a lot of it

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | 10/06/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First the good news: the music is wonderful. Great playing, and a terrific mix of standard jazz styles (There Ain't No Sweet Man, in particular) with Beiderbecke's chamber explorations. It's definitely worth many listenings.The not-so-good news. I didn't think it was technically possible to only put 43 minutes of music on a compact disk. Seriously, the album seems awfully short for the money."

Oh, my GOSH!

Zipper-Head | West Chester, PA | 05/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the town where I grew up, there was a summer when someone painted (with a brush, no spray paint at that time) the words "Bix Lives" virtually everywhere. I asked everyone I could think of if they knew who this "Bix" was ... finally, it was our Postmaster (a pretty fair ragtime piano player) who told me that the "Bix" painted everywhere referred to a jazz cornetist named Bix Biederbeck. I never heard anymore about that, and my public-school music teachers weren't really very forthcoming.



I heard about this disc on Public Radio. I had to order it from Amazon because my local music store was at something of a loss when it came to Geoff Muldaur and Mr Biederbeck. What drew me mostly were some remarks that Bix had drawn some of his later influences from composers like Maurice Ravel and Claude DeBussy. I really wanted to hear this!



I have finally found MY FAVORITE cd ... this has handily surpassed every other favorite I've EVER had. It's simply beautiful ... sometimes wistful, occasionally melancholy, and always a delight."