This well-rendered, joyfully rocking, jazzy and coolly swinging -- not to mention crazy and from the outer limits -- live date (recorded at N.Y.C.'s
Iridium Jazz Club in 2004) serves as a celebration of the marriage of both idioms, as well as a 20th anniversary party for the legendary
Yes and
King Crimson drummer's famed
Earthworks band. The expanded orchestra concept began as a joint-force venture between the
Earthworks repertoire and woodwind player
Tim Garland's London-based, nine-piece
Underground Orchestra. With
Garland taking on the formidable arrangement duties, the material -- a cross-section of classic and new
Earthworks pieces -- is infused with fresh energy and remarkable depth. The set launches with the fluttering jam
"Libreville," which swirls staccato flute and trumpet runs (by
Steve Wilson and
Alex Siplagin, respectively) over jazzy piano and odd-metered,
calypso-based bass and percussion.
"Pigalle" is likewise a seductive, jump-for-joy free for all, while
"Speaking in Wooden Tongues" goes through various phases of
fusion,
world music, and
avant-garde, all the while allowing for extensive
jazz improvisations (particularly by
Wilson). Some tracks like the
ballad "It Needn't End in Tears" are easier for listeners who prefer understandable melodies, but artsier-minded fans might enjoy stumbling through the chaos of the final track,
"The Wooden Man Sings, and the Stone Woman Dances," to get to the more structured sections. ~ Jonathan Widran
