Michael Broadbent

Michael Feinstein - Michael Feinstein With The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
PS3 SACD ISO: 3,44 GB (2.0/5.1) | EAC Rip, FLAC LOG & CUE: 300 MB | 24B/88,2kHz FLAC (2.0): 1,0 GB | Artwork: 23 MB | Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Concord Records SACD-1014-6 | Country/Year: US 2003 | Genre: Jazz | Hoster: Filepost/Filefactory

As it says on the back cover, Michael Feinstein With the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is the first recording he's made with a symphonic orchestra. For this special occasion, Feinstein and Alan Broadbent decided to stick to celebrated songs from the great American popular songbook, ranging from "Stormy Weather" and "Laura" to "On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)."…

“Broadbent plays Brubeck” is a return to Alan Broadbent’s beginnings…

Alan Broadbent is one of New Zealand's favorite musical sons and perhaps the most well-known and multi-talented of them all. Many are familiar with his arranging and conducting for Sir Paul McCartney, Diana Krall, Pat Metheny and Michael Bublé. Others may know Broadbent has received 8 Grammy nominations and won 2 Grammy Awards for Best Orchestral Arrangement Accompanying a Vocal, one for Natalie Cole and one for Shirley Horn. On Like Minds, Broadbent takes a seat on the piano bench for his third Savant recording with his trio featuring the great bassist Harvie S and the colorful drumming of Billy Mintz.

This overly long quartet-plus-strings session is Charlie Haden's paean to an ideal America, made during a time that was ripe for such reflections. The band, with Haden on bass, Michael Brecker on tenor, Brad Mehldau on piano, and Brian Blade on drums, is unassailably strong. But listeners could have lived without the ear-candy sheen provided by the 34-piece orchestra, arranged primarily by Alan Broadbent, with additional contributions from Jeremy Lubbock and Vince Mendoza. (Broadbent and Mendoza also penned charts for Jane Monheit's In the Sun, released two weeks earlier.) Aside from outright banalities like "America the Beautiful" and "It Might Be You" (yes, the Stephen Bishop lite-radio hit), there are some saving graces, like Keith Jarrett's "Prism" and "No Lonely Nights," Mehldau's "Ron's Place," and Haden's two originals, "American Dreams" and "Nightfall."

Henryk Górecki is best known for his now, fortunately for us, fairly frequently performed 3rd Symphony "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'. And while his other music is less often heard, even in the symphony halls, this recording gives the opportunity to experience yet another of this great Polish composer's major works - O Domina Nostra for soprano and organ.