HUBERT LAWS — The Rite of Spring (review)

HUBERT LAWS — The Rite of Spring album cover Album · 1971 · Third Stream Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
dreadpirateroberts
With ‘Rite of Spring’ Hubert Laws brings jazz to an album completely made up of classical works, this time sourced mostly from Impressionist composers. Bach also makes an appearance, but perhaps the most impressive piece is Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ which serves as a wonderful title track. Arranger Don Sebesky would use Stravinsky again on ‘Giant Box’ two years later (also featuring Laws) but here the combination is probably more enjoyable, in terms of its suddenness and brooding nature, its unpredictable shifts of mood. In fact, through use of guitar and vibes, along with percussion, the piece, at times, takes on a South American folk or even tribal feel.

Now whether you believe jazz and classical music can be truly melded, it’s clear Laws can play both styles, and he demonstrates that a jazz sensibility can be taken to classical compositions. Not every piece benefits as much from the mixture, as the gentle, melancholy aspect of ‘Pavane’ for instance, isn’t diminished, but neither is it improved or altered too much. That sounded incredibly stuffy of me, but basically James’ electric piano and the percussion don’t compliment the material as well as the flute does in this instance. Overall, it’s still lovely. Conversely, the use of guitar (across the whole album) is another matter. While the classical style of playing brings Spain to my mind (doubtless because of Rodrigo) both Bertoncini and Scharf are quite important to the record, in part due to the kind of bridging role they play, working to flesh out the space between the jazz rhythm of bass and drums and the lead voices of flute or bassoon.

As is often the case when I put on a CTI-era Laws album, there’s a piece or two that fails to click with me. I am in no way a classical music buff, but it seems that the Impressionist and Romantic styled pieces play better than the Baroque stuff. The pomp of composers like Bach and Mozart don’t seem to marry with jazz as effectively, and certainly not always on the Laws’ albums I own. While the Bach movements are lively here, there’s something missing between the jazzy rhythm and the flighty lead voices.

‘Syrinx’ is another showcase for Laws, like Airegin on 'In the Beginning', who takes it as a solo piece, playing a duet with himself. It's a delicate and quite mysterious reading of the Debussy piece, and while it’s not the highlight for me, it has a quality.

So if you like any of Laws, or CTI’s efforts to merge classical and jazz, wherever you’ve come across it, and feel like you need a bigger hit, then ‘The Rite of Spring’ has it. While not a collection of back to back triumphs, this should have enough interesting attempts to fuse two seemingly separate styles to keep you listening.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
zorro007 wrote:
more than 2 years ago
http://cazrock.blogspot.com
zorro007 wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Good Album.
Here is Jazz and Rock
" My Jazz Rock Blog "

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

New Start Fusion
TOM KENNEDY
Buy this album from MMA partners
Love Songs Live Avant-Garde Jazz
JOHN ZORN
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Data Avant-Garde Jazz
MATTHEW SHIPP
Buy this album from MMA partners
Peace Post Bop
SADAO WATANABE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Remy Le Boeuf’s Assembly Of Shadows : Heartland Radio Pop/Art Song/Folk
REMY LE BOEUF
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

??·??·?·???·?·????
SADAO WATANABE
snobb· 7 hours ago
"Miles Between" // by Shawn Schlogel & Nancy Erickson Lamont
NANCY ERICKSON LAMONT
js· 22 hours ago
Mature Hybird Talking
FRANK GRATKOWSKI
js· 2 days ago
Perspective (Peace & Love)
ISAIAH COLLIER
js· 2 days ago
T-SQUARE 45th Anniversary Celebration Concert & Tour 2023 @Zepp Nagoya ?CLIMAX?
T-SQUARE
js· 3 days ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed