Gary Burton, Next Generation

Dave Gelly and Carol McDaid
Sunday July 31, 2005
The Observer

Gary Burton
Next Generation
(Concord CCD 227-2) £13.99’If you take any three of them and add their
ages, it still doesn’t equal mine,’ says Burton, 62, about his new
young quintet. The youngest, 17-year-old guitarist Julian Lage, is
the prodigy who caused a sensation on his debut recording with Burton
last year. Once the music starts, however, considerations of age
become irrelevant. Burton’s approach has always emphasised interplay,
and the level of concentration involved here is mind-boggling at
times, especially when his vibraphone, Lage’s guitar and pianist Vadim
Neselovskyi are weaving simultaneous lines. The effect, however, is
light and sparkling, with that touch of jauntiness that Burton always
manages to inject into everything he plays. This is his first
full-time band for some time, and from the man who introduced such big
names as Pat Metheny and Larry Coryell it sounds like another
winner. DG

Hossein Alizadeh & Djivan Gaspaaryan
Endless Vision
(Hermes) £13.99

It’s a warm, moonlit evening in September 2003 outside the old shah’s
winter palace in Tehran, and the sense of occasion is palpable as
celebrated Iranian lutenist Hossein Alizadeh is joined from
neighbouring Armenia by Djivan Gasparyan, -undisputed maestro of the
duduk (a wind instrument made of apricot wood and full of
melancholy). Crackling applause gives way to crickets – then Hossein’s
searching, six-string shoura-ngiz and the duduk’s plaintive reply. The
pair are flanked by nine musicians and vocalists from both countries;
the set ranges from solos to beautifully arranged ensemble pieces that
celebrate a shared culture and history, best exemplified by the folk
song ‘Sari Galin’,sung on the night in Armenian, Persian and Azeri and
bringing the house down. This is the first UK release from elegant
young Iranian label Hermes Records, complete with cover photograph by
Abbas Kiarostami. CMcD

Best of the restGraham Collier
Workpoints
(Cuneiform) £15.99Previously unreleased 1968 live recording featuring Harry
Beckett, Kenny Wheeler, John Surman et al in their heyday.Lura
Du Korpu Ku Alma
(Ultra) £12.99Sultry young Portuguese-Cape Verdean vocalist who started out
backing Cesaria Evora.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress