Search - David Murray, 4tet & Strings :: Waltz Again

Consistently unpredictable

Louis J. Perillo | Pensacola, Fl, USA | 12/24/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"David Murray is one artist who never rests on his laurels. I have just about every note he's released (that's a lot of CDs!), and you can always expect two things: A quality set that has twists and turns; and a sense of adventure from a man who refuses to recycle themes just to maintain popularity. I'll add that his taste in pianists has led me, over the years, to some of my favorite artists, including DD Jackson, John Hicks, Don Pullen, Dave Burrell, and others - and I originally discovered David Murray via a McCoy Tyner recording.

Waltz Again is partly a tribute to his late father. The first piece has the most dissonance, but it flows, makes sense, and is a pleasure. The other compositions are stronger melodically, but also travel inside and outside - my favorite kind of Jazz Journey. Once again, Davis Murray illustrates that he's a great artist - a veteran who is still restless."

Thanks David Murray

Eleanor Hixon | Baltimore, MD United States | 02/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a rich recording. Murray's `big band' writing has matured with each outing to the point that I don't want to take this one off the box, though I have other new recordings waiting to be played. Lafayette Gilchrest is a gem here; he has the right tone and temperament for this set. His sound is like an expanded Monk, he goes places you didn't know existed until he plays it.



There is a different Murray on this recording, one closer to an earlier recording - Ballads For Bass Clarinet - yet rich and diverse in another way, this one is absent of his traditional upscale hooks and squeals, thought taking nothing away from his sound and display of prowess.



The music is related from one tune to the next and the sound quality is excellent.



This is consistent David Murray, giving the kind of performance that causes you to collect whatever he has out there. Add this one to yours.

"

Murray's most ambitious work in a long time

A. G. Smith | Glasgow, Scotland, UK | 02/26/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Murray made his compositional and arranging mark on the jazz world a long time ago with 'Ming' from 1980. But whilst the initial burst of follow-up projects for his Octet and Big Band built on the astonishing achievements of Ming, With some notable exceptions, Murray's career on record since then has tended to showcase his mercurial soloing abilities over his compositional gifts. 'Waltz Again' changes all that with an ambitious program that integrates his his quartet with a highly interactive string group, the overall effect of which is strongly reminiscent of Max raoch's 1980's Double Quartet recordings for the Soul Note label. Except that Waltz Again is if anything more challenging than Roach's concept, posessing as it does a greater degree of concentrated writing in the string parts which are often highly dissonant. Nevertheless there is ample space within this framework for Murray to portray his usual brand of strong-minded romanticism and overall this has to be counted as an essential entry in his bulging catologue of recordings. Certainly anyone who'd made the error of writing off Murray in the 1990's as a purveyor of increasingly predicatable and somewhat conservative quartet recordings should take note of the variety of settings he has placed himself in recently; especially this one.

"