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Peter Erskine / Bob Mintzer / Darek Oles / Alan Pasqua: Standards 2, Movie Music

by Edward Blanco
Standards hold a particular fascination for drummer Peter Erskine, as initiated through his Grammy-nominated Standards(Fuzzy Music, 2008). Unlike that first album--comprised primarily of old jazz standards--Standards 2, Movie Music focuses on songs that are considered standards from the realm of Hollywood movies. Featuring music from Gone With The Wind (1939), considered by many to be one of the best movies ever made, to the main theme from Rosemary's Baby (1968), this unusual collection of songs, by necessity, has to leave ...
Continue ReadingPeter Erskine / Bob Mintzer / Derek Oles / Alan Pasqua: Standards 2, Movie Music

by Dan Bilawsky
While the songs featured on Standards 2, Movie Music were given an initial audience through the medium of film, some of them have led a fruitful existence beyond the borders of the silver screen. Some melodies--like Tara's Theme," from 1939's Gone With The Wind--will always be associated with their point of origin, but much of Cole Porter's catalog, including the two inclusions on this album ("Night And Day" and I Concentrate On You"), is more familiar to current audiences than ...
Continue ReadingPeter Erskine / Bob Mintzer / Darek Oles / Alan Pasqua: Standards 2, Movie Music

by Dan McClenaghan
Composers of movie soundtracks have crafted some of the most enduring tunes for jazz treatment. Names like Leonard Bernstein, Cole Porter, Krzysztof Komeda, and Ennio Maricone show up in the credits of innumerable albums, with tunes that shape moods and atmospheres, and supply jazz artists with engaging melodies galore.Drummer Peter Erskine has collected a crack quartet which has, in turn, collected ten tunes from various movie soundtracks for a near perfect jazz outing, one with that swings with ...
Continue ReadingPeter Erskine / Bob Mintzer / Darek Oles / Alan Pasqua: Standards 2, Movie Music

by John Kelman
Sometimes, the most powerful statements are those delivered directly: gentle, yet forceful in their complete commitment, and without the trappings of excess.With the sudden, unexpected passing in 2008 of Dave Carpenter--the talented and busy West Coast bassist who had played with everyone from Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson and Woody Herman to Scott Henderson, Allan Holdsworth and Lee Ritenour--drummer Peter Erskine and pianist Alan Pasqua had to find a new bassist for their longstanding trio, last heard on Standards ...
Continue ReadingDarek Oles: Like A Dream

by Rex Butters
Well-traveled Los Angeles-based bassist Darek Oles leads three configurations through ear balm renditions of his richly melodic, appealing compositions. His Cryptogramophone debut resembles in format the label's Music of Eric Von Essen series, which explores that bassist's compositions with different ensembles. Here, he's caught in intimate conversation with old friend Brad Mehldau on five tracks, with a guitar/saxophone quartet on two, and with a trio on five, one of which features guest Bennie Maupin sounding happy on tenor.
His acknowledged ...
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