“Cross Over U.S.A.” – Claude Bolling, piano & arrangements, with Jean-Pierre Rampal, flute/Guy Touvron, trumpet/harp/guitar/violin/cello/doublebass – Frémeaux & Associates FA 457, 53.6 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****:
Claude Bolling has won greater success with his mixing of classical and jazz than almost anyone else who has tried it, including classical composers, third stream composers, and the big bands that once adapted classical themes. I would say his ten suites for jazz piano and trio are right up there with the Alec Wilder octets, Jacques Loussier’s Play Bach and the Modern Jazz Quartet’s efforts of John Lewis. He involved such top classical artists in his suites as Pinchas Zukerman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Maurice André.
While performing some of his suites in Chicago in 1990 with his ensemble, Bolling reported the audience wanted the song “Chicago” as an encore. At first he didn’t see how this would fit into their crossover music style, but then he imagined it in 3/4 time and with a 19th century spirit. The nine works on his CD grew out of this incident, and he decided to have them all celebrate various American cities and states – hence the album’s title.
Bolling was fortunate to get the world’s most famous flutist, Jean-Pierre Rampal, for this recording session. That was appropriate since he had been the soloist on Bolling’s first classical-jazz foray – the Suite for Flute. Harpist Marielle Nordmann, a brilliant pupil of the late Lily Laskine, has her first jazz experience on this album, and adds a nice timbre to the ensemble. It reminded me of the Michel Legrand CD I had just reviewed which spotlit the harp in arrangements with orchestra of his music and others.
TrackList:
New York New York, Way Down Yonder in New Orleans, Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?, Chicago, Georgia on my Mind, Mississippi (Old Man River), On the Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe, Stars Fell on Alabama, Moonlight in Vermont, Back Home Again in Indiana
– John Sunier
