Dave Grusin - An Evening With Dave Grusin (2011)

GRP-co-founder Dave Grusin is certainly one of the top five jazz pianists worldwide. More popular are however his scores for films and television. He was awarded with an Oscar for best original score for The Milagro Beanfield War, as well received Oscar nominations for The Champ, The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Firm, Havana, Heaven Can Wait, and On Golden Pond. Other film scores he has composed include Tootsie, Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?, Three Days of the Condor, The Goonies, Tequila Sunrise, Hope Floats, Random Hearts, and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

In December 2009 Dave Grusin celebrated a breathtaking event at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, Florida, An Evening With Dave Grusin. Backed by the 75-piece Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra Grusin performed a collection of 12 songs by Grusin, Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin and Henry Mancini. Guest musicians were Jon Secada, Patti Austin, Monica Mancini, Gary Burton, Arturo Sandoval, Nestor Torres and Sammy Figueroa.

This remarkable event was recorded and will be simultaneously available on CD, Blu-ray Disc and ROBA iPadApp on Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group, April 26, 2011. The CD opens with Fratelli Chase, the most popular main theme of the Goonies. Grusin and the London Symphony Orchestra had re-recorded this piece for the album Cinemagic, so this version is the third installment. Certainly the most powerful with the support of a 75-piece orchestra.

On Golden Pond and New Hampshire Hornpipe are scores of the impressing film On Golden Pond featuring Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda and Katherine Hepburn. While the main theme is sensitive and intimate in describing the wonderful landscape, fills the second uplifting song the movie with energy and joy. Grusin comments: “In terms of using that amount of piano on a score this film was for me as a pianist the beginning of a new era.”

The jazz song Makin' Whoopee was highlighted by famous actress Michelle Pfeiffer sprawled over a piano in a red evening dress, in the 1989 film The Fabulous Baker Boys. Patti Austin reminds of this film scene during the intro, before she sings the song in her unsurpassable own way.

With the Porgy & Bess Medley Dave Grusin pays homage to George Gershwin as he did on many other albums. These timeless themes are designated for an orchestral interpretation. Same is to say about Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story. Cool with the legendary Gary Burton on vibes and the mesmerizing duet of Jon Secada and Patti Austin on Somewhere are highlights of this opus.

Suite from the Milagro Beanfield War is Dave Grusin's return to this wonderful movie score of Robert Redford's masterwork. Grusin had already published these songs on his album Migration in a jazz set with top-notch musicians. Now he presents the themes in a more coherent orchestral arrangement. Maria is another theme from West Side Story, which constantly influenced Dave Grusin's musical activity and found its echo in his tribute album West Side Story (1997). On that album Maria was performed by Jonathan Butler, Jon Secada's interpretation is a shade superior.

I Feel Pretty, another classical song of the West Side Story features Nestor Torres on flute in a phenomenal Latin festival. Latin percussion star Sammy Figueroa pushes the song with the perfect rhythm. “My idea for this rendition of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story was born of an old respect for his unique approach to what we have come to know as Broadway show music,” said Dave Grusin. “It is amazing that 50 years means nothing when dealing with something that is timeless in this way. It was hip in 1957…and it is hip now.”

Moon River by Johnny Mercer (lyrics) and Henry Mancini (music) was originally sung in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's by Audrey Hepburn. On this event the song features singer Monica Mancini, a daughter of famed film composer Henry Mancini. The amalgamation of legacy and prowess. The private eye television serial Peter Gunn might be forgotten, but not Mancini's theme, which won an Emmy Award and two Grammys. An everlasting attractive title. Final tune on this respectable album is Memphis Stomp from the 1983 film, The Firm. A brilliant piece to showcase Grusin's virtuosity.

An Evening With Dave Grusin is an outstanding album with timeless themes delivered in a breathtaking orchestral brilliance. -- smooth-jazz.de