Prime Meridian
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Don Van Vliet, Milton (Byron) Babbitt, Frank Zappa, Jon Nelson, Frank London, Rich Shemaria, Herbie Hancock, William Scott Wheeler, Igor Stravinsky
Label: Channel Crossings
Magazine Review Date: 4/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 70
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CCS8195
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Fanfare for a New Theatre |
Igor Stravinsky, Composer
Igor Stravinsky, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| (6) Song Arrangements, Movement: Peaches en Regalia |
Frank Zappa, Composer
Frank Zappa, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| (6) Song Arrangements, Movement: Let's make the water turn back |
Frank Zappa, Composer
Frank Zappa, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| (6) Song Arrangements, Movement: Oh no |
Frank Zappa, Composer
Frank Zappa, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| (6) Song Arrangements, Movement: Igor's Boogie |
Frank Zappa, Composer
Frank Zappa, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| (6) Song Arrangements, Movement: Eat that question |
Frank Zappa, Composer
Frank Zappa, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| (6) Song Arrangements, Movement: Echidna's arf |
Frank Zappa, Composer
Frank Zappa, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| Song for Someone |
William Scott Wheeler, Composer
Meridian Arts Ensemble William Scott Wheeler, Composer |
| (6) Song Arrangements, Movement: A carrot |
Don Van Vliet, Composer
Don Van Vliet, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| (6) Song Arrangements, Movement: When I see Mummy |
Don Van Vliet, Composer
Don Van Vliet, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| (6) Song Arrangements, Movement: Apes-Ma |
Don Van Vliet, Composer
Don Van Vliet, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| (6) Song Arrangements, Movement: Dropout boogie |
Don Van Vliet, Composer
Don Van Vliet, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| (6) Song Arrangements, Movement: Suction prints |
Don Van Vliet, Composer
Don Van Vliet, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| Fanfare for all |
Milton (Byron) Babbitt, Composer
Meridian Arts Ensemble Milton (Byron) Babbitt, Composer |
| Song for a dead King |
Jon Nelson, Composer
Jon Nelson, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| Pandora's Magic Castle |
Rich Shemaria, Composer
Meridian Arts Ensemble Rich Shemaria, Composer |
| Jessica |
Herbie Hancock, Composer
Herbie Hancock, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| Shvitz Suite, Movement: Bucket Cue |
Frank London, Composer
Frank London, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| Shvitz Suite, Movement: Freaky Guitar Freylekhs |
Frank London, Composer
Frank London, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| Shvitz Suite, Movement: Divine Betrothal |
Frank London, Composer
Frank London, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| Shvitz Suite, Movement: Full Moon |
Frank London, Composer
Frank London, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| Shvitz Suite, Movement: Psycho-Klezmer |
Frank London, Composer
Frank London, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
| Paterson 2:35 |
Jon Nelson, Composer
Jon Nelson, Composer Meridian Arts Ensemble |
Author: Michael Oliver
The phrase ‘arranged for brass quintet’ too often means ‘emasculated and equipped with brass-band cliches and showy solos for the lead trumpet’. Meridian, however, is a sextet (brass plus drums), most of whose players can either double on a non-brass instrument (guitar, saxophone, more drums) or can sort of sing. So I need not have worried: the mercurial Zappa and the anarchic Don Van Vliet (also known as Captain Beefheart) are not excessively neatened and tidied by these arrangements. Zappa’s melodic distinction, in particular, could withstand even a less sympathetic and affectionate treatment than Don Nelson gives him here. Let’s make the water turn black has had its hair smarmed down a little (something to do with Meridian’s dapper staccato manner; the disco-ish one-two rhythm is also a bit of a strait-jacket), but the archetypally Zappa Peaches en Regalia sounds almost as though he’d arranged it himself.
No one, since the Captain’s lamented retirement, can match his raucously gravelly vocalism, but Daniel Grabois makes a good shot at it; I hope his throat is quite better now. Stravinsky and Babbitt aside, the best composer here after Zappa and Beefheart is Nelson himself: his Song for a dead king (the monarch being Elvis Presley) is in the spirit of Zappa both in its derision and its exuberant solo writing.Paterson 2:35 is catchy, joyous and Latin; so, if overextended, is Rich Shemaria’s piece. Closer to the standard brass quintet style are Kenny Wheeler’s only faintly blues-y lyric and Herbie Hancock’s attractive ballad (used as an excuse for at any rate one brass cliche: chords in which instruments enter one at a time, from the bottom up).
Stravinsky’s brilliant fanfare (“two golden cockerels crowing at each other”, said George Balanchine) makes an ideal prelude, Milton Babbitt’s an ingeniously varied, toccata-like centrepiece. Frank London’s suite might be described as Klezmer with added gritty dissonance; I found it hectic, vociferous and rather empty in the context of the rest of the collection. The performances, though, are throughout quite stunningly good: all the brilliance one has learned to expect from the best traditional brass groups, plus a whole range of jazz- and rock- and funk- and I-know-not-what-else-derived virtuosities. A close, brilliant recording: play it very loud.'
No one, since the Captain’s lamented retirement, can match his raucously gravelly vocalism, but Daniel Grabois makes a good shot at it; I hope his throat is quite better now. Stravinsky and Babbitt aside, the best composer here after Zappa and Beefheart is Nelson himself: his Song for a dead king (the monarch being Elvis Presley) is in the spirit of Zappa both in its derision and its exuberant solo writing.
Stravinsky’s brilliant fanfare (“two golden cockerels crowing at each other”, said George Balanchine) makes an ideal prelude, Milton Babbitt’s an ingeniously varied, toccata-like centrepiece. Frank London’s suite might be described as Klezmer with added gritty dissonance; I found it hectic, vociferous and rather empty in the context of the rest of the collection. The performances, though, are throughout quite stunningly good: all the brilliance one has learned to expect from the best traditional brass groups, plus a whole range of jazz- and rock- and funk- and I-know-not-what-else-derived virtuosities. A close, brilliant recording: play it very loud.'
Prime Meridian
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