I am glad to have received from Los Angeles clarinetist Marty Krystall the somewhat off-the-beaten track 2009 release, Silver Screen in Blue for clarinet and strings. Mr. Krystall is a long-time wind doubler in the LA film, television, and jazz world. A player at home in classical, jazz, and many popular styles, he can be heard on hundreds of Hollywood movie and television scores. He has frequently toured in the U.S. and Europe, and has recorded with artists as far-ranging as Aretha Franklin and Tashi (the Webern Quartet for violin, clarinet, tenor saxophone, and piano).
This disc presents arrangements of music of eight motion pictures from the “Golden Age” of movies, with no living composer represented. The arrangements, for solo clarinet, double string quartet, bass, and harp, are by the distinguished composer/arranger/ orchestrator (and former clarinetist) John Neufeld, who also conducts the ensemble in this release. These arrangements are rich in harmonic interest, spiced with counterpoint and jazz harmony, effectively structured, and intelligent in detail. A project of this kind could have easily resulted in a soloist display with some (quite frankly), cheesy accompaniments. Such is not the case here. Neufeld does not use a cookie-cutter approach from track to track, recognizing the varying characteristics among these tunes.
The music programmed is: “Love Theme” from Spartacus (Alex North); Invitation (Bronislav Kaper); Black and Tan Fantasy (Duke Ellington); The Bad and the Beautiful (David Raksin); “Theme” from The Best Years of Our Lives (Hugo Friedhofer); Two for the Road (Henry Mancini); Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen); “Fantasy on Themes” from Anthony Adverse (Erich Wolfgang Korngold). With the exception of the Korngold “Fantasy” (an almost twelve-minute piece), the arrangements are in the four-to-six-minute time range.
It is clear from the arrangements and the clarinet playing that both Neufeld and Krystall are seasoned jazz musicians. All the tracks exhibit a moderate to strong jazz character, and Krystall plays with a rich sound, smooth technique, and with tasty inflections which the rather wide variety of material demands of him, from simple lyrical character to active virtuosic solos. In Invitation and Anthony Adverse Krystall is given solo cadenzas which he impressively delivers. Although solo jazz choruses appear throughout this disc, I believe that none of the improvisational-sounding material is improvised, but is well- written by John Neufeld, who is apparently a stickler for detail and who weaves these pieces into a kind of jazz chamber music. He dispenses with the piano/bass/drums rhythm section, so the time keeping is totally notated in the ensemble.
There are no weak arrangements or performances on this disc, but certain tracks which seem to work the best for this writer are Kaper's Invitation, David Raksin's The Bad and the Beautiful, and Mancini's Two for the Road, the latter two in part perhaps because they are widely familiar tunes. Neufeld's arrangement of Arlen's Over the Rainbow is imaginative and rich in detail, and much more effective than anticipated. The first hearing of the Korngold Anthony Adverse track was a surprise and pleasant discovery to hear unexpectedly yet another tune known to this writer. The composer's beautiful main theme from the “Romance” movement of his 1945 Violin Concerto was lifted from his 1936 film score.
Silver Screen in Blue is a delightful and somewhat unusual diversion which may very well appeal to many clarinetists. The recorded sound is a close-up studio perspective which is detailed and natural, if a bit on the dry side. It supplies a variety of moods, with ballads and up-tempo tunes to make for a seemingly short 46-minute listening experience, and it may also prick some fresh programming interest among our readers. The release is from K2B2 RECORDS 3869 and is available from k2b2.com. |
