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Anthony Brown:
CD
Reviews
 "Masscult,
Midcult, and Multiculti: Rhapsody in Blue still packs
a thrill, and it's still open to interpretation"
— Francis Davis, in The Village Voice (April 14, 2006) (read
the article)
 "[This]
is what Gershwin would have intended, had he been available to
recast Rhapsody to the tune of today's New
York..."
— Robert Doerschuk, in Downbeat magazine (April, 2006)
This
Month's Featured CD Review:
Anthony
Brown's Orchestra, Rhapsodies (Water Baby)
Reviewed by Scott Yanow, Los Angeles Jazz Scene
One of the hits of the 2004 Monterey Jazz Orchestra was a
performance by an unusual orchestra led by drummer Anthony
Brown that mixed together both Western and Asian instruments. Their version of "Rhapsody In Blue" was quite unique
and earned a standing ovation.
Rhapsodies has the 19-minute version of "Rhapsody In
Blue" plus reworkings of Charles Mingus' "Self
Portrait In Three Colors," "Come Sunday," a
brief "Take Me Out To The Ball Game,"
"Tang" (from Duke Ellington's Afro-Eurasian Eclipse)
plus four of Brown's colorful originals (including a tribute
to Lester Bowie called "Bread & Bowie").
While the repertoire is wide-ranging, look at the
instrumentation: two trumpets, two trombonists (one doubling
on tuba), four saxophonists (who also play such reeds as
shakuhachi, contra bassoon and contra alto clarinet), a bass
clarinetist doubling on steel drums, guitar, Mark Izu on bass
and the Chinese mouth organ, percussion, Hong Wong on Chinese
mouth organ, dizi, erhu and suona, Yangqin Zhao on a Chinese
hammered dulcimer, Gahgqin Zhao on Chinese harp zither and
also Chinese hammered dulcimer, and drummer Brown. David
Murray also guests on two songs on tenor and bass clarinet.
The unique Rhapsodies, one of the most colorful recordings to
be released in 2005, features a new type of jazz big band.
Highly recommended. (February 2006)
SELECTED REVIEWS:
"Local Jazz Greats" by Andrew Gilbert
— San Francisco Chronicle Datebook, January 1, 2006
"Best CDs of 2003"
— Downbeat, January 2004
"Anthony Brown's Asian American Orchestra: Monk's
Moods" by Fred Bouchard
— Downbeat, August 2003
"Anthony Brown's Asian American Orchestra: Monk's
Mood" by Loren Schoenberg
— NPR Jazz CD Review, November 18, 2001
"Traditions: Monk Gone Asian" by Neil Tesser
— JAZZIZ, October 2001
"Monk's Mood"
— International Association of Jazz Record Collectors (IAJRC)
Journal, Fall 2001, Vol. 34, No. 4,
"Anthony Brown's Asian American Orchestra: Monk's
Moods" by Graham Lock
— JazzTimes, July/August 2001
"Anthony Brown's Asian American Orchestra: Far
East Suite" and "Asian American Jazz Orchestra:
Big Bands Behind Barbed Wire" by Bill Shoemaker
— JazzTimes, January/February 2000
"Far East Suite"
— Cadence, January 2000
"CD of the Week: Asian American Orchestra: The Far
East Suite" by Randy McElligott
— JAZZIZ, July 1999
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