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Peter Erskine / Bob Mintzer / Darek Oles / Alan Pasqua: Standards 2, Movie Music

By Dan McClenaghan
January 31, 2011
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Peter Erskine / Bob Mintzer / Darek Oles / Alan Pasqua: Standards 2, Movie Music

Composers of movie soundtracks have crafted some of the most enduring tunes for jazz treatment. Names like

Leonard Bernstein

composer / conductor
1918 - 1990

" data-original-title="" title="">Leonard Bernstein,

Cole Porter

composer / conductor
1891 - 1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Cole Porter,

" data-original-title="" title="">Krzysztof Komeda, and Ennio Maricone show up in the credits of innumerable albums, with tunes that shape moods and atmospheres, and supply jazz artists with engaging melodies galore.

Drummer

Peter Erskine

drums
b.1954

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Erskine has collected a crack quartet which has, in turn, collected ten tunes from various movie soundtracks for a near perfect jazz outing, one with that swings with the feeling of an

Duke Ellington

piano
1899 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Duke Ellington small group outing.

From tenor saxophonist

Bob Mintzer

saxophone
b.1953

" data-original-title="" title="">Bob Mintzer's opening notes, it's apparent that this is a special outing. The rhythm section bounces in on a cloud, with bassist

Darek Oles

bass
b.1963

" data-original-title="" title="">Darek Oles injecting a powerful buoyancy to the ensemble groove. The tune is Max Steiner's "Tara," from Gone With the Wind (1939), stepping light and easy over spare piano sparkles on a supremely gorgeous opener.

Leonard Bernstein's "Somewhere," from West Side Story (1961), cries to life on Mintzer's achingly lovely saxophone notes. The group plays it straight, before pianist

Alan Pasqua

piano
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">Alan Pasqua takes it away on a delicate, swinging rumination on the theme, wrapping up his solo on Erskine's sharp declarations, that invite Mintzer back into the mix.

Standards 2, Movie Music hearkens back to the days when tenor saxophonists

Lester Young

saxophone
1909 - 1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Lester Young and

Ben Webster

saxophone, tenor
1909 - 1973

" data-original-title="" title="">Ben Webster were recording small group sets with pianists

Teddy Wilson

piano
1912 - 1986

" data-original-title="" title="">Teddy Wilson and

Oscar Peterson

piano
1925 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Oscar Peterson, where every note from every player sounded perfect, and the group dynamic seemed impeccable, classy and elegant.

Less familiar, perhaps, are Jerry Goldsmith's "Dr. Kildare" and "Three Stars Will Shine Tonight," from the early to mid-sixties television show, and tunes from two European soundtrack masters—Krzysztof Komeda and Ennio Morricone—invoking a feeling of pathos for "Rosemary's Baby (Main Theme)," and a mood of awe and wonder for "Cinema Paradiso," respectively.

Peter Erskine and his quartet have made a beautiful, classic CD.

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Track Listing

Tara's Theme; Somewhere; Dr. Kildare; Three Stars Will Shine Tonight; Night and Day; Rosemary's Baby; Cinema Paradiso Intro; Cinema Paradiso; I Concentrate on You; For All We Know.

Personnel

Peter Erskine

drums

Bob Mintzer

saxophone

Alan Pasqua

piano

Darek Oles

bass

Bob Mintzer: tenor saxophone; Alan Pasqua: piano; Darek Oles: bass; Peter Erskine: drums.

Album information

Title: Standards 2, Movie Music | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: Fuzzy Music

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