RopeaDope Archive

Slavic Soul Party! – Plays Duke Ellington’s Far East Suite – Ropeadope

by Audiophile Audition | Nov 7, 2016 | Jazz CD Reviews

Ellington as you’ve never heard Ellington: let the party begin. Slavic Soul Party! – Plays Duke Ellington’s Far East Suite [TrackList follows] – Ropeadope RAD-314, 52:14 [9/16/16] ****1/2: (John Carlson, Kenny Warren – trumpet; Peter Hess – saxophone, clarinet; Peter Stan – accordion; Matt Musselman, Tim Vaughn – trombone; Ron Caswell – tuba; Chris Stromquist – snare drum, percussion; Matt Moran – tapan, goč, bubanj) East meets West? Simply going by the title of this ensemble’s name, Slavic Soul Party!, you might assume this is an Eastern European band performing western jazz. Think again. This is actually East Coast meets Far East. The nine-member Slavic Soul Party! [they like to use an exclamation point] is a New York City-based group who put a fresh spin on Duke Ellington’s celebrated Far East Suite, issued 50 years ago in 1966. Percussionist Matt Moran (part of the Claudia Quartet, and who has backed Sufjan Stevens and others) formed Slavic Soul Party! in the late ‘90s, and over the years has presented music bursting with bouncy brass and has melded different musical viewpoints into a beguiling brew. Slavic Soul Party! is nearly all brass: two trumpets, two trombones, sax, clarinet and tuba, along with […]