Or do you give them the LP version and in the case of Miles Davis’s Miles Ahead, let them put the kettle on between tracks five and six?
There was no tea break as such here but Tim Hagans, who was acting as both musical director and featured soloist, took the vinyl route, thus presenting Gil Evans’ masterful settings for Davis as two suites, which is probably how most present first heard it. With the Edinburgh Jazz Festival Orchestra augmented by tuba and two french horns to mirror Evans’ blueprint, Hagans had a suitably lush, beautifully tempered backdrop to work with and introduced one or two variations.
Ceding Evans’ playful setting of Dave Brubeck’s The Duke to Ken Peplowski on clarinet was a nice touch, responded to splendidly, but by playing trumpet instead of the flugelhorn that Davis favoured on the original Hagans didn’t quite capture the same confiding, lyrical qualities or quiet humour, and his harshness of tone and tendency to inject flurries of notes seemed at odds with the smooth progression through Spanish, Latin American and reflective bluesy moods.
Earlier, the orchestra had given a terrific account of home-grown talents Colin Steele and David Milligan’s Scottish-inflected compositions and if it helps spread the word of the latter’s world class writing and arranging abilities especially, then the Scottish Jazz Expo’s investment in this concert will be money well spent.
HHH
