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Joanna Macgregor - Moondog-Sidewalk Dances

Joanna Macgregor - Moondog-Sidewalk Dances

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Description
The cult that exists around the memory of New York street musician Moondog – real name Louis Hardin – hides what I’ve always considered an awkward truth: actually his routine scores are often maddeningly conservative. The Baroque-with-a-backbeat licks that comprise his tribute piece for Benny Goodman, Good for Goodie, are prim and proper pastiche, while Joanna MacGregor’s claim that Dog Trot “strays into Mingus territory” is simply not borne out by the reality. Bassist and composer Charles Mingus’s music was volatile, visceral and in a perpetual state of reaching transcendent extremes. Dog Trot is an amiable enough jingle but sets safe parameters that it’s determined to stick to. Turning a Manhattan street corner to find Moondog dressed in his trademark Viking costume and performing his music must, of course, have been an arresting sight. Certainly it’s well documented that Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Duke Ellington thought so; but street music transplanted into the concert hall is rarely a success and MacGregor stumbles head first into all the traps. From slick orchestrations to overcooked reverb, the vibe is über-corporate, and Moondog’s music has been rendered as accessible exotica – all very Elvis Costello and Late Junction. Classical musicians – and especially British ones – normally make tepid swingers and the Britten Sinfonia sound polite, although not as self-conscious as other ensembles forced from their comfort zone. The presence of young British jazz drummer Seb Rochford and saxophonist Andy Sheppard adds a lift. But there are so many holes in the basic concept that they can’t make that much difference.
Product details
Release Date:
2010-05-14
Publication Date:
2010-05-14
Publisher:
Warner Classics
Languages:
Published: English
Weight:
95 g
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