Aki Takase Plays Fats Waller "Underground Railroad" (Eugene Chadbourne, Thomas Heberer, Rudi Mahall, Paul Lovens) - Banlieues Bleues 2005 [2005, Modern Creative / Avant-Garde Jazz, SATRip]

Title: _____
Size: 2.93 Gb ( 3 071 648 KBytes ) - DVD-5
Enabled regions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
VTS_01 :
  Play Length: 00:54:36
  Video: PAL 4:3 (720x576) VBR
  Audio:
      Not specified (Dolby AC3, 2 ch)

1986 AKI TAKASE DUO - Jazz Ost-West
1988 BERLIN CONTEMPORARY JAZZ ORCHESTRA - Jazz Ost-West
2005 AKI TAKASE Plays Fats Waller "Underground Railroad" - Banlieues Bleues

2003 DAVE DOUGLAS SEPTET “Freak In”
2003 NEW-YORK. BOBIGNY
2004 TRIO COURVOISIER “Abaton”
2004 SAINKHO NAMTCHYLAK
2004 4 WALLS
2005 AKI TAKASE Plays Fats Waller “Underground Railroad”
2005 OTOMO YOSHIHIDE - Music(s)
2005 YOHIMBE BROTHERS
2006 THE JUNGLE BLUE SUITE
2006 HORS CHANT
2008 IVA BITTOVA / DON BYRON / HAMID DRAKE “Improvisation”
2008 ERNST REIJSEGER “do you still ?”
2008 COSA BRAVA
2009 THE WORLD SAXOPHONE QUARTET

"Aki Takase plays Fats Waller" © 2004, Enja
What the world does not need is yet another slavish tribute to the great Fats Waller, one in which his original arrangements are re-created and his personal style respectfully reproduced. Aki Takase, being the slightly slantwise genius that she is, conceived of something very different for this project: a tribute album that would incorporate some ofWaller's compositions alongside pieces by other New Orleans composers and original pieces by Takase herself – some of which would allude slyly to the great man's sound, and others which would bring a completely different flavor to the mix.
Her helpers include bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall, trombonist Nils Wogram, and the even more slantwise genius Eugene Chadbourne, who contributes vocals, banjo, and guitar. Familiar tunes like "Viper Rag" and "Handful of Keys" are given slightly twisted but delightful arrangements, and other period pieces like "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans" rub shoulders with Takase's own numbered intermezzi, which are often contemplative and harmonically spiky. The vocals tend to be a bit goofy, and some of the arrangements start out with long sections of skronky, atonal group improvisation. But the whole album hangs together surprisingly well and serves its purpose admirably: it celebrates the spirit of Waller's music without aping it thoughtlessly.
Rick Anderson ~ AMG