Fat Cat Big Band / Meditations On The War For Whose Great God Is The Most High You Are God
Album: Meditations On The War For Whose Great God Is The Most High You Are God   Collection:Jazz
Artist:Fat Cat Big Band   Added:Apr 2009
Label:Smalls  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2009-05-17 Pull Date: 2009-07-19 Charts: Jazz
Week Ending: Jul 12 Jul 5 Jun 28 Jun 21 Jun 14 May 31 May 24
Airplays: 1 2 2 1 2 2 3

Recent Airplay
1. Oct 05, 2017: No Cover, No Minimum
Samantha Swing
4. Oct 25, 2013: No Cover, No Minimum
Meditations On The War For Whose Great God Is The Most High You Are God
2. May 28, 2015: Jump, Jive, & Jazz
Prayer For Togetherness
5. Feb 28, 2013: No Cover, No Minimum
Meditations On The War For Whose Great God Is The Most High You Are God
3. Apr 25, 2014: No Cover, No Minimum
Phil Stewart Figures Out Ofer Landsberg Playin' Charlie Parker Blues
6. Oct 07, 2011: No Cover, No Minimum
Meditations On The War For Whose Great God Is The Most High You Are God

Album Review
Fo
Reviewed 2009-05-17
FAT CAT BIG BAND: Meditations on the War...
Smalls, 2009

MODERN JAZZ – Guitarist/composer Jade Synstelien’s 11-piece band presents appealingly quirky original material that slips neatly into the big band tradition without being retro, reverent or kitschy. Don't be scared off by the esoteric title; this is fairly straightforward, but quite interesting, stuff. The tunes all get right to the point with tight arrangements and crisp, short solos.

This is one of two discs released simultaneously. Both are good, but I prefer this one (the other is Angels Praying for Freedom).
Soloists are listed on the back of the booklet.

* * * * | Fo’s Picks: 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10

1. 3:29 – solo guitar into lopsided swing; chatty muted trumpet & guitar solos
2. 4:54 – relaxed tempo: breezy head; trombone solo starts serious, eases up
3. 2:37 – uptempo, swings but from a strange angle, solos get tossed around
4. 2:42 – catchy cascading theme, alternately slow & fast: no solos
5. 2:48 – fast & scrambly with annoyed political vocal [FCC clean despite title]
6. 4:20 – laid-back ballad, slow-dance feel disrupted by oddball guitar solo
7. 6:22 – forceful and exotic, with wordless vocal wail; densely layered sound
8. 3:24 – relaxed, flowing, but with a little charged undercurrent
9. 3:03 – upbeat swing, cute/catchy theme: nice alto sax solo
10. 3:54 – gentle start, spins out to a confusion of parallel melodies, returns
11. 3:52 – happy good-time bounce, melts down in the middle

[ Fo ] 05/17/09

Track Listing
1. Samantha Swing   6. I Did Nothing To Lose You
2. Prayer For Togetherness   7. Meditations On The War For Whose Great God Is The Most High You Are God
3. Phil Stewart Figures Out Ofer Landsberg Playin' Charlie Parker Blues   8. Prayer For Unconditional Love
4. Togetherness/No Self   9. Never-Ending Endeavors
5. F*Ck The Man (Please Vote)   10. Prayer For Compassion
  11. Please Be Green New Orleans