Monday, April 04, 2005

Orchestrating a winner

The Shuffle came up with Coleman Hawkins playing “Rainbow Mist” on my evening walk today and I was struck by the way his horn stood out from the big band behind him.

David Sanchez strikes me that way on “Coral,” an expansive piece of orchestral jazz I’d class with Bob Belden’s “Black Dahlia,” a five-star CD of the year in Downbeat in 2001 that’s on my list of things to take to the desert island.

This is not jazz you listen to in a smoky club with people clinking glasses and chatting in the background. More like sitting in a nice, smoke-free music hall, quietly and dressed to the nines. But it’s sophisticated, powerful stuff.

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