Cinemagique by Pago Libre

24 Apr

Written by Lee Prosser
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I’ve written of the musical exploits of this John Wolf Brennan fellow in these (web) pages in times past - he’s one of these musician/composers who’s got so many pots on the stove that he can’t be categorized as any particular type of chef (like John Zorn, Don Byron, et. al.). Some of what he’s done has straddled the (imaginary?) line betwixt post-John Cage "classical" composition and free improvisation, but the Pago Libre quartet; now these fellows are his "inside" group (sort of). There are elements of free-improv and classical, but the "classical" equation includes Bartok and Poulenc as well as the Cage/Stockhausen axis.

The delightful dishes served up by Pago Libre combine cool jazz (esp. A. Shilkloper’s mercurial Chet Baker/Shorty Rogers-esque French horn), Gypsy/Rom-based swing (T. Theissing’s emotive, stirring Stephane Grappelli-meets-Billy Bang violin) and gracefully swinging chamber jazz elegance that takes in the Modern Jazz Quartet and the ECM sound. And the cherry on the sundae is their compositions, which will be insidiously etched in your mind after a spin or three. Cinemagique is subtitled "fifteen soundtracks for an imaginary cinema" - close your eyes, you provide the movies and they’ll take care of the rest.

Additional Info

Artist / Group Name: Pago Libre
CD Title: Cinemagique
Year Released: 2001
Record Label: TCB
Musicians: J.W. Brennan: pianos, voice; Arkady Shilkloper: French horn, flugelhorn, alphorn, voice; Tscho Theissing: violin, percussion, voice; Daniele Patumi: bass, voice.
Label Website: http://www.tcb.ch
Rating: Five Stars