Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Frank Macchia with The Prague Orchestra: Landscapes

210

Frank Macchia with The Prague Orchestra: Landscapes

By

View read count
Frank Macchia with The Prague Orchestra: Landscapes
A follow-up to composer/arranger/saxophonist Frank Macchia's critically acclaimed Emotions (Cacophony, 2006), which received a Grammy nomination for "Best Arrangement ("Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair ), Landscapes is the second part of an extended session of symphonic music cleverly diced with strong jazzy overtones. As with the first album, Macchia employs the string-laden Prague Orchestra, under the direction of Adam Klemens, to provide lush arrangements that feature the soft tenor saxophone voice without a conventional rhythm section.

Spending the last fifteen years in Los Angeles orchestrating and composing for movies, and specifically writing for strings, woodwinds and harps in place of the standard piano rhythm section, Macchia utilizes those skills on this concept recording. On Landscapes the saxophonist pens his version of six folk songs and standards around the six-part centerpiece of the album, "Landscape Suite—for Saxophone & Orchestra, that feature solid tenor solos fronting a string symphony.

The music takes off with a re-harmonized and string-heavy rendition of "The Sidewalks Of New York, followed by the softer "Shenandoah and "Down In The Valley, in which Macchia solos brilliantly. From here the music turns to the six-part suite for saxophone and orchestra, the main theme of the recording.

With titles such as "Golden Fields, "Desert Heat, "Arctic Chill and "Forrest Twilight, each part of the suite is designed to convey a different feeling and emotion. Whether it's the loneliness and isolation of "Arctic Chill or a stream-of-consciousness as is supposed to be imagined on "River Rapids, the music is meant to be thought-provoking, and not just relaxing.

Landscapes is an encore performance that continues the musical exploration Macchia began with Emotions.. Contributing innovative arrangements, Macchia wraps the jazzy sounds of the tenor saxophone with a blanket of lush orchestral music to produce a unique classical jazz project.

Track Listing

The Sidewalks of New York; Shenandoah; Down In The Valley; Landscapes Suite - for Saxophone & Orchestra: I.Golden Fields, II.Desert Heat, III.River Rapids, IV.Arctic Chill, V.Jungle Life, VI.Forest Twilight; Deep River; Avalon; Way Down Yonder In New Orleans.

Personnel

Frank Macchia
composer / conductor

Frank Macchia: composer, tenor saxophone; The Prague Orchestra: Adam Klemens: conductor; orchestra personnel unlisted.

Album information

Title: Landscapes | Year Released: 2007 | Record Label: Cacophony

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.