The New Century Saxophone Quartet
MAIN STREET USA
CHANNEL Crossings CCS 9896 [55:32]
Morton GOULD arr. BOATMAN
Pavane from American Symphonette No.2
Main Street Waltz | Main Street March from the film ‘World War I’
GERSHWIN arr. BOATMAN
Selections from Porgy and Bess: Clara, Clara | Oh, I Got Plenty O’Nuttin’ | Bess, You is My Woman Now | Oh, I Can’t Sit Down | Summertime | There’s A Boat dat’s Leavin’ For New York | Oh Lawd, I’m On My Way
Promenade
Three Quarter Blues
Merry Andrew
BERNSTEIN arr. BOATMAN
Selections from West Side Story: I Feel Pretty | Balcony Scene (Tonight) | Cha-Cha/Meeting Scene/Jump | One Hand, One Heart | Gee, Officer Krupke | Scherzo | Somewhere
The NEW CENTURY SAXOPHONE QUARTET (NCSQ):
Michael Stephenson soprano
James Boatman alto
Steven Pollock tenor
Brad Hubbard baritone
with Steve Kirkman percussion
Percussionist Steve Kirkman joins the NCSQ for the first time on this recording. Kirkman, as well as the members of NCSQ, attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, N.C. where he received both his Bachelor and Master of Music Degress. Steve’s wide range of performing experiences and his diverse musical strengths fit nicely with New Century’s philosophy of versatility. When not touring with West Side Story, Dallas Brass or backing artistes like Perry Como, Steve teaches at Limestone College and Winston-Salem State University.
axophone quartets, though having been popular in America for quite some time, are only catching on in the local music scene not so long ago, having been regarded as nothing more than a ‘fun’ pastime for amateur band members, or having a place only in jazz bars playing salon music. Personally, after hearing my own friends perform ‘live’ as a saxophone quartet, I have an extremely high regard for this unique ensemble, that can be extremely hip but musically serious at the same time!
All the more, then, that I would welcome this recording, especially coming from a highly-acclaimed group, the New Century Saxophone Quartet. New Century is the only saxophone quartet to win First Prize in the Concert Artists Guild New York Competition in its 45 years, besides having a huge long string of credentials and accolades attached to them. All the pieces on this recording were arranged by the alto saxophonist, James Boatman, and he has taken great pains to make sure these do not turn out to be cheesy elevator music; giving technically demanding transcriptions that are extremely difficult to play well. And indeed, these pieces preserve the original spirit of the compositions, with the added pleasure of hearing them anew: there is something about a saxophone’s sound that can stop a musician’s heart.
Morton Gould really should be heard more, being a contemporary American composer that is relatively neglected by the classical community. He wrote much music in the style of Ragtime, Jazz and Big Band, and here Boatman has adapted three attractive short pieces. The first, Pavane, was written in 1938 as part of the composer’s American Symphonette No.2. The relentless ‘walking’ rhythm in the baritone saxophone provides the drive while the soprano carries the easy-going melody, without losing a deeper nostalgia where called for, and the inner voices fill in with syncopated chords which helps the melody to float. An opening piece that would open the eyes (or ears) of those who have never heard a saxophone quartet before; incidentally, this was the same style that had made such an indelible impression on me when I first heard my friends’ quartet.
Main Street Waltz and Main Street March are taken from Gould’s film score for the World War I, depicting, respectively, a happy and worry-free pre-war America, and an idealistic American nation marching into war without realising its full consequences. Percussionist Steve Kirkman adds to the atmosphere with glockenspiel, drums, cymbals and xylophone. The soprano is dreamily sweet in the Waltz, and in the March the saxophones are as rousing as a full marching band in parade.
The other two American composers on this recording, George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein, should be no strangers to music lovers. This CD compiles songs from the two composers’ representative operas: Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, and Bernstein’s West Side Story.
The major showstopping songs from Porgy and Bess have been transcribed without losing any of the emotionality as the composer had infused in them. The lack of thick cumbersome orchestration considerably lightens up the arrangement and gives the lonesome melancholy plenty of airing, a trait always inherent in Gershwin songs; matched by the saxophone’s silky-smooth but richly soulful voice, the darker blues and slow ballads are given even more character and soul. In the faster gay pieces as well, the brassy piping of the instruments, when played loud, equally match the merriness of Gershwin’s get-up-and-go Catfish Row numbers.
The three miscellaneous Gershwin songs start with Promenade, written one year before he died at 39. It is an intimate but bouncy piece, full of good humour and adulation, used in the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film Shall We Dance. The soprano is suitably perky and quirky without losing that Gershwin melancholic smile. Three-Quarter Blues is a brief but extremely beautiful piece, with the saxophone choir and vibraphone setting a serene mood. Merry Andrew jolts like a jazzed-up square dance number, again given a lively and good-natured treatment by New Century.
Bernstein’s West Side Story contains so many memorable tunes that a continuous medley of all of them would be quite exhausting. In his arrangement separated into seven sections, James Boatman strives for as orchestral an arrangement as possible, by no means an easy feat since the complexity and intricacy of Bernstein’s scoring is notorious. Yet, New Century, with the help of various percussion effects from Kirkman, achieves to this end a tightly-woven and sensitive reading of various selections from Bernstein’s most popular work. Though the soprano saxophone carries most of the melodies and does them more than adequate justice in expressivity, the rest of the ensemble contribute their fair share of inner voices and vital rhythm that keep the story chugging along, as our modern-day Romeo and Juliet play out their beautiful tragedy.
One Hand, One Heart has always been my personal favourite amongst the ballades, both for its hymn-like religiosity, and for the serene dream-like state in which time literally stops while Maria and Tony recite their vows. Various dance sequences and the rowdy Gee, Officer Krupke are injected to avoid over-romanticising the mood. However, one song that I felt should have been included, to complete the sequence, was America.
This recording is not only suitable for saxophone and Gershwin/Bernstein aficionados; the sound of a perfectly-blended saxophone quartet is greater than the sum of its parts, and moreover Boatman has given us arrangements that can actually qualify as chamber music. Prepare to be spellbound by the meticulous ensemble-work of this talented group that is winning acceptance for saxophone quartets, as they end quietly with the chords, “… a place for us. Somehow, Someday, Somewhere!”
