****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Multiple Emmy- and Grammy-winning composer/arranger/conductor Patrick Williams once again scores a home run as he drives the big band genre into the 21st Century. The album's title derives from a three-movement suite dedicated to Williams' three children (daughters Elizabeth and Greer, and son Patrick B.), and the remainder salutes the musical figures which were influential throughout Williams' fifty-year career."52nd & Broadway", featuring a vocal by Patti Austin (who was a teenaged Broadway performer at the time Williams launched his career in Manhattan), refers to the original location of Birdland (although the lyric by Arthur Hamilton, who composed "Cry Me a River" nearly six decades ago, refers to Roseland Ballroom, which was actually two blocks north at 54th Street). Hamilton also furnished lyrics for "I've Been Around", in which Frank Sinatra, Jr. and Tierney Sutton pay homage to the premier vocalists of the Great American Songbook (Williams arranged and conducted the final Duets recordings of Sinatra's dad, and he released a big band tribute to Frank Senior. entitled Sinatraland, just prior to thelatter's death in 1998). "A Hefti Dose of Basie" is Williams' paean to bandleader Count Basie and composer/.arranger Neal Hefti, both of whom were formative influences. "Blue Mist", in which trumpeters Arturo Sandoval, Wayne Bergeron, and Gary Grant re-create the styles of Cootie Williams (no relation), Harry James, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis, bears a dedication to Williams' wife Catherine. Wrapping up this tour de force, drummer Peter Erskine (a veteran of Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson, and Weather Report) takes the spotlight on "That's Rich (for Buddy)".Other constributing musicians include trombonists Andy Martin, Bob McChesney, and Rich Bullock; reed men Dan Higgins and Tom Scott (a featured soloist on Williams' Grammy-winning Threshold over four decades ago); pianist Dave Grusin (an award-winning composer in his own right) and bassist Chuck Berghofer (the man behind Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"). Still another veteran, audio engineer Al Schmitt, expertly captured the entire project at the iconic Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, ensuring a most pleasurable listening experience.
