The Great Departure

For his first album for the Concord jazz imprint, vibraphonist Gary Burton goes back: back to some of the most enduring compositions in the jazz lexicon, constructing the program on Departure completely from jazz standards, except for "Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs" (the theme from the television show Frasier). Along with guitarist John Scofield, drummer Peter Erskine, pianist Fred Hersch, and bassist John Patitucci, Burton also returns here to the quicksilver, porcelain sound of the George Shearing quintet, Burton's first job after graduating from the Berklee College of Music. For the uninitiated, Departure is a worthwhile introduction to Burton's style on vibes, with his strong sense of swing swaddled in a sound that's most often elegant yet sometimes surprisingly funky.

1979's The Great Train Robbery has long been one of Jerry Goldsmith's most unusual projects, both in terms of his overall output and in particular as one of his collaborations with filmmaker Michael Crichton. With the exception of The Great Train Robbery and The Thirteenth Warrior, all of the Goldsmith/Crichton collaborations (Pursuit, Coma, Runaway, Congo and Timeline) have fallen into the techno-thriller genre, and stylistically, the buoyant comic energy of The Great Train Robbery lies far afield of the darker-edged work that in general defined Goldsmith's career. For the film, Crichton adapted his own historical novel and cast Sean Connery as dashing Victorian criminal Edward Pierce. Goldsmith's score establishes the movie as a lighthearted romp from its opening downbeat and thereafter cheerfully varies between churning, steam locomotive drive and breezy elegance; the jaunty main title tune is unpredictable and boasts one of the best bridges Goldsmith ever wrote.

Grammy winner Daniil Trifonov presents a cycle of Sergei Rachmaninov’s highly virtuosic Piano Concertos.

Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of PASSING THROUGH – THE COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS, a 6CD boxed set by the unsung heroes of British early ‘70s rock, HELP YOURSELF.