The Bottom Line
- World premier recording of Pocket Symphony
- eighth blackbird’s performance is precise and musically articulate
- The music is fun, adventurous and engaging
- None
Description
- Released: June, 2005, Cedille Records
- 1 disk, 9 tracks
- Total Play Time: 57:07
Guide Review - eighth blackbird - fred
Pocket Symphony (2000) was specially composed for eighth blackbird. It’s purely abstract music. When I say abstract, I don’t mean atonal. It’s actually a healthy combination of atonal and tonal music. Many passages in the Pocket Symphony are quite lyric and surprisingly beautiful. Les Moutons de Panurge (The Sheep of Panurge) (1969) is a brilliant representation of a Rabelais tale that “lampoons conformity and mindless obedience to authority.” Coming Together (1971) was inspired by the letter of an inmate killed during the Attica prison uprising in New York.
This is eighth blackbird’s third album. Eighth blackbird formed in 1996, and since then has won multiple awards and toured around the globe. Eighth blackbird is currently in residence at the University of Richmond in Virginia and the University of Chicago.
