Violin Post Bop Music : Paganini - After a Dream

Paganini - After a Dream

£7.77

  1. Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte
  2. Black Orpheus (Manha de Carnival)
  3. Pavane
  4. Oblivion
  5. Reverie
  6. Healing in Foreign Lands
  7. Apres un Reve
  8. Excerpt from ALexandra
  9. Cinema Paradiso

Paganini: After a Dream represents a significant about face for Regina Carter, following the Detroit soul flavourings of her Motor City Moments album. In 2001, Regina was invited to perform on Paganini s famed Guarneri violin, returning to Genoa the following year to record this album. Carter s regular quintet is augmented by an 18-piece string orchestra on three tracks, but Paganini s violin is always absolutely central. A cultivated aura of gentility pervades, with Carter soloing smoothly over a very relaxed backdrop of introspective piano and caressed cymbals. At times, it s almost as though she s scared to manhandle this dainty axe, coaxing out bittersweet lines that sing with a precise enunciation. There s none of that rough-hewn Stuff Smith or Billy Bang influenced jazz-sawing here. The sensitive mood is captured particularly well on Apres un Reve, as Carter is answered by the mournful cello lines of Borislav Strulev. Around a third of the tunes flirt with playful Latin rhythms, Astor Piazzolla s Oblivion and Ennio Morricone s Cinema Paradiso theme both weeping uncontrollably as they glide onwards. This project might be planted too firmly in the hotel lounge for some of Carter s regular fans, but fortunately it represents the quality end of the muzak range. --Martin Longley

Remarkable instrument provenance, sublime performance. - I can honestly state that I ve been waiting many months for this release, having read about the future possibility of its existence when the original performances took place well over a year ago, with recording sessions a year later. And I m one happy camper now that it s safely here.Regina Carter is surely one of the finest jazz violinists playing today. (On the distaff side, it s simply no contest. While there s no shortage of distaff Celtic, bluegrass or country fiddlers, Ms. Carter has the jazz sphere all to herself.) But the provenance of this release makes it more than a little special.The (somewhat) short version of the provenance: Ms. Carter plays Paganini s own personal violin, a 1743 Guarneri del Gesu known as Il Cannone (The Cannon), the first jazz (and, for that matter, African American) artist to have done so. It is an instrument with gorgeous, lustrous tone, and, given its pedigree, an instrument that is closely guarded by its Genoese museum curators. The idea of Ms. Carter s performing on this rarest of rare instruments came about by way of a friend of a friend who thought the matchmaking to be appropriate. The actual amount of logistical legwork and preparation required to pull it off, and the uncertainty of the success of the venture at every stage, are nicely described by her in the booklet notes. Good for her! What a coup!Most of the works Ms. Carter has chosen are classics: either from the world of classical music, in suitable arrangements for her inimitable style, or are Latin American classics that fit her style quite naturally. The former are all French (well-known works of Ravel, Debussy and Fauré), the arrangements (all nicely tasteful) to some might suggest - or even shout - crossover (and all that the genre implies), but Ms. Carter plays them with such panache and soul, taking full advantage of the remarkable instrument provided her, that I can t imagine even the most hardened jazz-head not liking them.The two Latin American classics are among my (and, I m sure, others) favorites: the main theme from Black Orpheus, by Luis Bonfá, and Astor Piazzolla s insinuiatingly langorous tango, Oblivion (one of my all-time favorite Piazzolla pieces). Another obviously Latin piece is by the great film score composer Ennio Morricone, from his music for Cinema Paradiso. The album is rounded out with two works written for the occasion: Healing in Foreign Lands by Werner Vana Gierig, the pianist in Ms. Carter s combo, and an excerpt from her own Alexandra, a work commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.All of the works have Ms. Carter backed by her combo of piano, bass and percussion, with a nice addition of cello on the Bonfá track and one of the two Fauré tracks. Some works are discreetly backed by strings, particularly nicely in the Piazzolla and Morricone tracks.But Ms. Carter is front and center throughout the album. And this classically-trained jazz artist is simply terrific everywhere, blending her classical skills and her hard-swinging jazz abilities, on what must be one of the finest fiddles in the world, to what can only be described as wonderful and gorgeous effect. Every single track on this album is a winner, not a dog amongst them, not even close!An added bonus: My first listen to this (with several already behind me now as I write) was in my desk-located Discman. I saw that there is a separate band on the outer edge of the CD. Figuring it for a CD-ROM band, I stuck it in my computer CD slot. Sure enough, the disc includes a travelogue of Genoa. Of course, had I taken the trouble to actually READ the jewel box, I would have seen the Enhanced CD logo. So there you have it: A nice no-charge extra.My early prediction: This album will be in every jazz lover s and fiddle fanatic s library in short order. Better get yours now.

Homage to a violin - Regina Carter is a performer who does not lend herself to simple categorisation. At times capable of great verve, at others more lyrical, but not afraid of the avant garde (as evidenced by tracks such as Freefall on the eponymous album with Kenny Barron).Her mood on this album is lyrical. The star is a famous violin, built in 1743, owned by Paganini.If you like grit, forget this album. The tracks, borrowed from classical sources, are given a light jazz treatment designed to capture the richness of the instrument s tone. In less sensitive hands the result could have been bland. On this occasion, the outcome is breath-taking musicality that will appeal to listeners with a wide spectrum of tastes. It just helps one realise how good a violin can sound.




Paganini - After a Dream