Album review: Wayne Alpern w. The Dorian Wind Quintet - Jukebox

Gretchen Pusch (flute); Gerard Reuter (oboe); Benjanim Fingland (clarinet); Karl Kramer-Johansen (horn); Adrian Morejon (bassoon); Wayne Alpern (producer/arranger).

Never judge a CD by its cover otherwise you may be duped into thinking that this was going to be a romping, stomping, dancing, prancing, hepcats' ball.

It isn't although there is a lot of quirky fun in Alpern's arrangements.

The notes describe the album thus: "Here are familiar tunes, neighborhood friends from our own musical backyards. What is new is how they are handled, elevating the everyday into the extraordinary. The Dorians are musical magicians, snake-charming the cherished from the commonplace. These are  gems extracted from nearby soil, glittering specks of sound culled from the canyon of our collective imagination." 

I guess they're going for a Grammy in the Liner Notes category!

Alpern, the top banana in the project, describes his arrangements as a sophisticated contemporary style of cross-genre or even post-genre music. 

Certainly it's different! There's little or no improvisation. If there is, it's so cleverly infused into the complex scores that spotting any ad-libs is nigh on impossible. Fugue-like, contrapuntal settings of standards, pop songs, jazz classics and show tunes as well as pieces by Bartok, Handel and Tchaikovsky provide the material.

If I've given the impression that this is a serious brow-furrowing exercise for eggheads think again. As I said at the beginning there's a lot of quirky fun. My favourite track is Blue Moon. If you can recall the doo-wop version by The Marcels and imagine it arranged by Bach whilst retaining the feel of the original then you've got the general idea.

Strangely, although the album's street date is given as Jan. 11 and the general release date Jan. 25, I'm unable to find any links where you can find out more and maybe try/buy.*

To add to the uniqueness, the tracks are in alphabetical order!*

Lance

*Listen to some of them here.

Amazon point of sale.

Accustomed to Her Face; All the Things You Are; Bartok Chorale; Beauty and the Beast; Blue Moon; Borodin on Broadway; Do-Re-Me; Don't Stop Believin'; Downton Abbey; Handel Allegro; Have You Met Miss Jones?; In a Sentimental Mood; Nutcracker Suite; Ornithology; Over the Rainbow; Penny Lane; Send in the Clowns; Surrey With the Fringe on Top; Wonderful Guy; You've Got a Friend.

* Sometimes the titles are abbreviated as in track 1.