Membre du Big Band de Claude Bolling depuis 1978, le talentueux saxophoniste et clarinettiste Claude Tissendier a ete un temoin privilegie de la carriere du pianiste et chef d'orchestre. Ces annees de collaboration et une connaissance intime du repertoire bollingien, conferent a son hommage une authenticite rare. Avec Swingin' Bolling Tissendier s'affirme comme un passeur de memoire, un gardien du temple swing, qui perpetue a merveille l'esprit et la lettre de l'oeuvre du chef. Augustin BONDOUX / Patrick FReMEAUX The talented saxophonist/clarinet-player Claude Tissendier has been a member of the Claude Bolling Big Band since 1978, and so a privileged witness to his leader's career as a pianist and conductor. During those years of collaboration, Tissendier has gained an intimate knowledge of the band's repertoire that lends rare authenticity to his tribute here. With "Swingin' Bolling", Tissendier shows himself to be a perfect messenger filled with memories and also one of the best guardians of the temple of Swing. This record wonderfully perpetuates the spirit and the letter of the works of "the Chief." Augustin BONDOUX / Patrick FReMEAUX BOWLING GREEN - LET'S SWING IT - TRADE MARK - BIG GOLDEN PIPE RHAPSODY - THE KEY - SAX SPECIALTIES (SAX SPECIAL TISS) - GENTLE GIRL - FEED THE CATS - MAIN DE FER ET GANT DE VELOURS - LA COMPLAINTE DES APACHES - PARIS EN BOUTEILLE - SOFT CALL - KEEP SMILING - CITY LIFE. CLAUDE TISSENDIER SAXPHONE ALTO, ARRANGEMENTS eRIC LEVRARD SAXPHONE BARYTON PHILIPPE MILANTA PIANO PIERRE MAINGOURD CONTREBASSE ALAIN CHAUDRON BATTERIE FABY MeDINA CHANT (5 &10) TOUTES LES COMPOSITIONS SONT DE CLAUDE BOLLING
Claude Bolling - "Le Magnifique Pt. 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)" / A score on a tightrope between realism, fantasy, mariachi, romantic outbursts, frenzied boleros and James-Bondian nods - the lush music of Le Magnifique establishes Claude Bolling as Henry Mancini's French cousin. CAM Sugar and Decca Records France are offering the first complete vinyl version of this Le Magnifique score in this 2 LP set, combining the original 1973 album with previously unreleased tracks and alternative takes from the CAM Sugar archives.
Claude Bolling - "Le Magnifique Pt. 2 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)" / A score on a tightrope between realism, fantasy, mariachi, romantic outbursts, frenzied boleros and James-Bondian nods - the lush music of Le Magnifique establishes Claude Bolling as Henry Mancini's French cousin. CAM Sugar and Decca Records France are offering the first complete vinyl version of this Le Magnifique score in this 2 LP set, combining the original 1973 album with previously unreleased tracks and alternative takes from the CAM Sugar archives.
Sony Classical is pleased to announce a new batch of reissues from the CBS/Sony and RCA Victor/BMG back catalogues. This latest instalment of the popular series showcases Mozart and Chopin along with conductor Robert Craft’s pioneering Webern recordings and the global journeys of that irrepressible musical explorer Yo-Yo Ma.
The supremely versatile Yo-Yo Ma has been aptly referred to as a musical omnivore. In addition to all the significant classical works written for his instrument, the eclectic cellist has passionately embraced the music of Latin America and Asia as well as American bluegrass and jazz. Seven of his most adventurous and acclaimed musical journeys have been collected by Sony Classical in a CD box entitled “Crossing Borders”. They include Appalachia Waltz and Appalachian Journey with Mark O’Connor and Edgar Meyer (Grammy 1998: “Best Classical Crossover Album”); Soul of the Tango – The Music of Astor Piazzolla (Grammy 1997: “Best Classical Crossover Album”); Obrigado Brazil – traditional songs and compositions by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Pixinguinha (Grammy 2000: “Best Classical Crossover Album”); Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet and Japanese Melodies; Anything Goes: the cellist playing mostly Cole Porter with Stephane Grappelli; and, last but not least: Hush, his famous collaboration with Bobby McFerrin.
Review excerpts of previously released volumes included in this set:
Appalachian Journey / Yo-Yo Ma, O'Connor, Meyer
The Mark O’Connor/Yo-Yo Ma/Edgar Meyer power trio took a while to follow up their 1996 hit Appalachia Waltz, yet, no doubt about it, Appalachian Journey was worth the long wait. I love the gnarly funk of the opening cut, “1B”, with hard swinging fiddle and cello lines anchored by Meyer’s earthy, off-center pedal points. The less driving, more reflective reels, and lyrical Duet for Cello and Bass fuse bluegrass, wistful folk tunes, and stark Copland-esque landscapes into organic wholes that sound better with each rehearing. The deliciously virtuosic Caprice for Three proves that players of this caliber can channel their super-chops toward listening out loud. Guest vocal stints by James Taylor and Alison Krauss add the spice of variety to the mix, along with a potential wider audience. And why not? The arrangements are judiciously varied, perfectly paced, and exploit the violin/cello/string bass configuration in ingenuous ways. One wonders how this trio might approach certain pieces over a looser, more extended improvisational time frame. I hope we won’t have to wait another three and a half years to find out. If you’re in a blue mood, this disc will provide an antidote with long-range positive side effects. Fun, fun stuff.
-- ClassicsToday.com (10/10, Jed Distler)
Obrigado Brazil / Yo-Yo Ma:
The music on this enchanting, flavorful CD varies from classical to samba to bossa nova; the combinations range from guitar, flute, and cello to female voice (the remarkable Rosa Passos), cello, guitar, percussion, piano, and bass; to simple cello and piano; to cello and two guitars. The overriding element is rhythm; each selection has a beat which is both infectious and sensual, but the contexts are splendidly varied. It's impossible to get bored or tired listening to this creative CD; it's unique--just like Yo-Yo Ma himself--and endlessly surprising. It may not be quite what we'd call "classical" music, but it is many kinds of music, and they all will delight. The other musicians are as impressive on their instruments as Ma is with his cello, and that's saying a great deal.
-- ClassicsToday.com (Robert Levine)
Silk Road Journeys - When Strangers Meet
Silk Road Journeys is an invigorating, eye-opening ride. To be sure, some pieces fare better than others, but as with any unforgettable trip, you tend to forget the occasional bumps you hit along unknown roads. Our guides are a generally stellar selection of master artists, including the luminary pipa player Wu Man and kemencheh and setar player Kayhan Kalhor. These two musicians in particular can go head-to-head in virtuosity with Yo-Yo Ma any day. Complemented by cleanly articulated sound, Sony Classical has produced a real keeper in its Yo-Yo Ma catalog, but the cellist makes his collaborators the true focus of this album.
Yellowbird features the sensational tuba virtuoso Aaron Tindall in an album that defies categorization. Tindall's latest recording includes jazz pianist (Grammy-nominated Shelly Berg) on the ballad, "The Peacocks"; Claude Bolling's "Suite for Cello & Jazz Trio" in Tindall's breathtaking transcription for tuba; and a swinging rock band accompaniment to Fred Tackett's "Yellowbird". Prepare to be entertained and astonished! With his solo playing described as being "remarkable for both it's solid power and it's delicacy" and his orchestral playing praised as "a rock-solid foundation," Aaron Tindall is the associate professor of tuba and euphonium at the Frost School of Music located at the University of Miami, and the principal tubist of the Sarasota Orchestra. In the summers he teaches at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, NC, where he also serves as Principal Tuba with the EMF Festival Orchestra under the direction of Gerard Schwarz.
“Music is like a small flame placed under the screen to help warm it’, said the American symphonic composer Aaron Copland, defining the role that music played in films. It’s an opinion shared by Claude Bolling, a major figure in European jazz and a man whose highly original scores have left an indelible mark on the collective memory: Borsalino, Lucky Luke, Le Magnifique, Les Brigades du Tigre… Fifty years after writing the music for his first short film, the great Bolling jumped at the idea of this retrospective, an entertaining project that would associate his twin statures as a pianist and film-composer within the same album.” Stephane LEROUGE
Claude Bolling is the great ambassador of big-band jazz and one of the greatest film-music composers of the 20th century. He’s also the man behind the term “crossover” designating the music-genre which mixes jazz with classical music, thanks to a dozen duo records which paired Bolling with trumpeter Maurice Andre, guitarist Alexandre Lagoya, cellist Yo-Yo Ma or flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal... Claude Bolling’s “Suite for Flute and Piano” with Rampal remained in the U.S. sales-charts of “Billboard” magazine for more than ten years. Patrick FReMEAUX
A great figure in European jazz, the eternal ambassador of Big Band Swing and the inventor of 'crossover,' Claude Bolling is also a prolific composer of film-music. His original soundtracks - from Borsalino and Lucky Luke to the Brigades du Tigre television series - belong in the league of works by Lalo Schifrin or Henry Mancini. This anthology compiled by Stéphane Lerouge contains great Bolling classics as well as rarities (some of them for the first time on disc).
“These two exceptional musicians are identical: they're both very demanding; they're absolutely bursting with enthusiasm; and both of them get a bit wary if you treat them like friends too quickly! I wanted to bring them together for a series of concerts at the Salle Cortot, and it was two years before the idea finally took shape. Little by little, the two of them came to trust me… Today the record has finally come out!” Franck Mossler
This historical recording session captured on DVD is the successful outcome of the mutual admiration of two great jazz artists: Claude Bolling and Stephane Grappelli. Here, the combination of the talents of Bolling's swinging 17-piece big band and the virtuosity of Grappelli's violin make a stunning visual document. Color, 53 minutes, in French and English.
This CD contains 12 compositions by Claude Bolling dedicated to 12 jazz pianists. Tracks include: An Oscar For Oscar (Oscar Peterson), Count On Him (Count Basie), Bis-Scott Rag (Scott Joplin), Dear George (George Shearing), Dave The Brave (Dave Brubeck), Midnight On Thelonius (Thelonius Monk), Duke On My Mind (Duke Ellington), Fatty Fats (Fats Waller), Ramsey The Pharaon (Ramsey Lewis), With Art and Fun (Art Tatum), Roll Jerry Roll (Jerry Roll Morton), Erroll in Blue (Erroll Garner).
Now besieged with requests for classical/jazz "suites" for himself and big-time classical performers, Claude Bolling took up violinist Pinchas Zukerman's commission, and out came another attractive confection that allows a classical cat to play quasi-jazzman for a day. This time, Bolling chooses mostly classical dance forms for his eight movements, still inserting mostly mainstream jazz segments (and a few vintage ones) around and under his soloist without getting him involved. Although he isn't asked to play jazz, Zukerman's warm, Romantic-era-grounded virtuosity doesn't betray even a hint of feeling for it; that makes Bolling's close-knit merger even more remarkable.
