Aliceadventures in Wonderland

Bucky Pizzarelli salutes arranger Bill Challis, who was responsible for many of the most important charts played by the Jean Goldkette Orchestra and Paul Whiteman's Orchestra, along with helping transcribe the handful of compositions by legendary cornetist Bix Beiderbecke. Challis in Wonderland CD music In his eighties at the time of these sessions, the seven-string guitarist shows no signs of slowing down, joined by bassist Jerry Bruno and on a few tracks adding his son John on guitar or a swinging string quartet led by the talented young violinist Aaron Weinstein with string arrangements by Dick Lieb.

"Alice In Wonderland" is a 40 minutes-long piece of work, obviously based on the famous book by Lewis Carroll. It confirms Neuschwanstein's significant importance in German rock history: the band succeeded, from the beginning, in creating a fluid and refined music, intense and suggestive, typical of the creative enthusiasm of the early Seventies. Usually structured around the keyboards parts, the music often underlines vivid and very refined piano pieces. With its strong melodies, its airy and dynamic flute soli, its dreamlike atmospheres, and the subtlety of the guitar effects, influenced by Steve Hackett's style, "Alice In Wonderland" easily takes its place among the best contemporary works of Camel or Focus.