Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Gary Morgan: Gary Morgan & PanAmericana! Live at Birdland

216

Gary Morgan: Gary Morgan & PanAmericana! Live at Birdland

Gary Morgan: Gary Morgan & PanAmericana!  Live at Birdland
Gary Morgan is an unusually gifted composer and arranger. Veteran of the BMI Jazz Workshop, recipient of compositional grants from the NEA and the New Jersey Council on the Arts, he's put together a crisp 20-piece band that's studded with top-level players. Live at Birdland , recorded in 1998 and released in 2003, is lush and lively. Morgan's charts meld a Latin/Brazilian feel with shades of Gil Evans and modern classical music; it's a terrific mix, full of surprising textures and harmonies. A master of dynamics, Morgan builds excitement organically, moving each tune to a satisfying conclusion.



The set contains seven: three fine Morgan compositions, two from venerable Brazilian composers Milton Nascimento and Egberto Gismonti, and an intriguing waltz ("Cactus ) from Michael Rendish, a teacher at Berklee. It's a varied and enjoyable tour, with noteworthy peaks like Morgan's textured "Refractions and "The Black Prince, which begins as a sinuous bolero with a hint of dark, coiled power, and grows into a pulsing 6/8 Bembe rhythm. Nascimento's familiar "Vera Cruz is freshened with intricate harmonies, while Gismonti's "Salvador conjures the spirit of Bahia, ending the CD with whirling percussive joy.



Morgan, a native of Santiago, Chile who grew up in Toronto, has played his woodwinds with such astral bodies as Duke Ellington, Tony Bennett, Nancy Wilson, and Dizzy Gillespie; moving to New York in 1980, he switched to bass. When he launched the PanAmerica! Big Band in 1995, he was able to combine his passion for Latin music with other contemporary influences, creating a seamless and exciting whole. A 2005 performance at Dizzy Gillespie's B'hai Center space reconfirmed that PanAmericana! is one of the best bands around, both innovative and respectful of tradition.

Track Listing

Zilch City Blues, Refractions, Vera Cruz, The Black Prince, Cactus, Salvador

Personnel

Jon Owens, Andy Gravish, Bill Mobley, Mike Mossman (trumpets), Chris Washburne, Steve Bleifuss, Elliot Mason, Chris Ollness (trombones), Mike Migliore, Dave Bixler, Adam Kolker, Dave Riekenberg, Terry Goss (saxophones, woodwinds), Chris Komer, Will Parker (French horns), Marcus Persiani (piano), Harvie S. (bass), Terry Clarke (drums), Memo Acevedo, Emedin Rivera (percussion)

Album information

Title: Gary Morgan & PanAmericana! Live at Birdland | Year Released: 2005 | Record Label: CAP

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.