Starlight Cafe

Review This is dimmer-switch and candlelight music, best savored when the lights are low. Rich with improvisation and played to perfection, Starlight Cafe gleams with rapturous jazz radiance. ~ Dan Ouellette Down Beat Stereophile San Francisco Chronicle A twilight mood for lovers of low key, leisurely paced music. ~ Marian McPartland, Piano Jazz National Public Radio When I was a kid and knew absolutely nothing about jazz, I was often struck by the melancholy sound of the flugelhorn, usually as background music in films. I searched and searched for a record to fit those melancholy moods, something with that distinctive, sad sound, but all to no avail. And while I discovered a lot of great jazz in the process, I didn't discover that dark, late-night record that would elevate my mood to something filmic. I've finally found it: Dmitri Matheny's Starlight Cafe. This is the album I've spent a lifetime looking for. Playing flugelhorn exclusively -- a first cousin to the trumpet, but with a mellower tone -- Matheny is backed by Darrell Grant on piano and Bill Douglass on bass. Their sound I can only describe, in the best sense of the word, as pretty. Don't get me wrong: nothing offends my musical sensibilities more than light jazz (or smooth jazz, if you prefer). But this is no light jazz; this is real jazz imbued with an increasingly rare beauty. Matheny has almost unanimously wowed critics, counting amongst his recent accolades being named one of four Best New Artists in the JazzTimes Magazine Readers Poll, and Talent Deserving Wider Recognition in the Down Beat International Critics Poll. ~ Stephen Seigel Tucson Weekly Starlight Cafe is a real winner. Matheny mixes soulful, torchy ballads with inventive uptempo numbers with deft ease. ~ Chris DeBenedetti North Beach NOW Ideal for quiet nights...a spellbinding tapestry of sounds. ~ Wayne Saroyan Oakland Tribune --National Public Radio On this, his third CD as a leader, Dmitri displays the kind of flugelhorn sound that has inspired this Metheny to start spending an extra hour each day in the woodshed. It's as gorgeous and soulful as a sumptuous full moon on a breezy summer night. And that's not to mention a level of technique and fluidity that will probably end up adding another hour to this admirer's new regimen. It's also fun to try to spot the influences. Because Starlight Cafe is mostly an evocative, late night session with drummerless accompaniment, Dmitri's lyrical side is almost always the center of attention. When it is, Jack Sheldon immediately comes to mind. But there's also a dash of Chet, a little Bobby Shew, and some Tom Harrell. It's an amalgam that makes for a single new and refreshing voice. The fare on Starlight Cafe is a straight ahead assortment of originals and recognizable standards ("Corcovado," "Stardust," "When Lights Are Low"), all of which are played with great lyricism and group empathy. In pianist Darrell Grant and bassist Bill Douglass, Dmitri Matheny has found the perfect backup for this kind of date; after all, playing a whole gig without a drummer takes a special kind of musicianship. This threesome pulls it off brilliantly. This is excellent music from three very talented artists. And it offers additional proof that, at 33, Dmitri Matheny is clearly poised to become one of the jazz world's next important trumpet/flugelhorn players. A big thumbs up from this distant cousin in Kansas City. -- Mike Metheny Jazz Ambassadors Magazine Jazz Beat Forum 52nd Street Jazz --52nd Street Jazz Product Description After staying away from standards on Red Reflections and Penumbra, Dmitri Matheny made them a high priority on his third album, Starlight Café (which was recorded live at La Note Café in Berkeley, CA in March 1998). The most accessible CD he had done so far, Starlight Cafe finds the Bay Area flugelhornist celebrating his romantic side and offering some highly soulful mood music. Those who were introduced to Matheny with his very cerebral debut album, Red Reflections, will experience a much different side of him on this cool jazz effort, which favors the sensuous over the abstract. Forming an intimate, drumless trio with pianist Darrell Grant and bassist Bill Douglass, Matheny is at his most lyrical on Marian McPartland's "Twilight World" and sentimental, personal versions of "Corcovado," "When You Wish Upon a Star" and "Stardust." Meanwhile, "Geneva" and "Whisper, Muse" are gently reflective Matheny originals that work quite well in this romantic setting.
ASIN: B00000AGNM
VSKU: DBV.B00000AGNM.G
Condition: Good
Author/Artist:Matheny, Dmitri
Binding: Audio cd
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: Individually inspected: Guaranteed to play perfectly or your money back. Case may show wear and may be in library packaging. Ships Fast!