Charmediterraneen

Orchestre National De Jazz
Ecm Records (Jazz)
Jazz | Apr 2003

Reviews

Craig Matsumoto
Reviewed 2003-05-08
European Big band, lots of brass, bold violins. Combines American big-band swing with a more formal Euro/symphony sound, plus some off-the-wall add-ins by ECM regulars like Anouar Brahem (playing oud). Overall upbeat and fun, very accessible, although it gets cheesy in a few places.

Tracks 1-6 are a suite, as are 7-9 and 11-12.

1- Big happy flourish 2- Free-form muttering, then a perky set of solos. Cool. 3- Slowly grand themes, some cool fast soloing 4- Upbeat grooving 5- Rockin'... in a really cheesy way. Avoid. 6- Upbeat, goes on a wacky free tangent for a while

7, 8, 9 - Swinging little suite. 7 and 9 are mostly fast, with 9 featuring an electric guitar solo. 8 is a slinky midtempo with a good sax solo.

10- Sprited, short trio with oud and sax
11, 12 - Mostly slow and dramatic. Brassy
13- Warm and sentimenal. Not subtle.
14- Uptempo after a long slow intro. Very cool bass solo.
15- Quiet and nice

Recent airplay

Estramadure, parts 2 and 3
Memory SelectJun 13, 2003
Charmediterraneen
Oh Messy LifeApr 27, 2003

Charting

2003-04-21 — 2003-06-23 Jazz
Week EndingAirplays
Jun 15 1
May 4 1

Track listing

1. Sequenze Orifiche
2. Prologo: L'orfeo
3. Sequenza Prima
4. Sequenza Seconda
5. Sequenza Terza
6. Sequenza Quarta
7. Estramadure Part 1
8. Estramadure Part 2
9. Estramadure Part 3
10. Montbeliard Trio
11. Artefact Part 1
12. Artefact Part 2
13. Argentiera
14. Charmediterraneen
15. Argentiera