ALAN SILVA — The Shout (Portrait For A Small Woman) (review)

ALAN SILVA — The Shout (Portrait For A Small Woman) album cover Album · 1979 · Progressive Big Band Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
snobb
Ten years after his legendary debut ("excellent" or "unacceptably chaotic cacophony", depending on the listener's taste) Alan Silva released his third studio album (and first studio recording in ten years) entitled "The Shout (Portrait for a Small Woman)".

At that time, Silva was working as a teacher in the Institute for Art, Culture, and Perception in Paris, and the material comes mostly from his teaching work. He doesn't play any instruments on "The Shout", but instead leads a 21-piece orchestra that is a combination of Silva's "Celestrial Communications Orchestra" plus his students. Silva wrote and arranged all the music and he conducts the orchestra as well.

Musically, this album is not similar to his debut, at least not from the first spin. Seven well structured, completely pre-composed tunes, all under 10 minutes long, are rooted in Ellingtonian tradition and post-bop. But during the listening one can easily hear Silva's background as a late 60s unorthodox experimentalist. All the arrangements contain that non-conformist, even chaotic element, coming from his debut, just here it is presented in a the form of modern European classical composition.

Among the orchestra members, I found just a few known names (at least for me); trumpeters Itaru Oki and Bernard Vitet, and drummer Muhammad Ali are among them, but in all, this collective sounds very professional and inspired playing quite complex compositions.

Much more accessible than the early Silva works, this album still contains lot of his extravaganza, so it could be easily recommended as an entry point. At the same time, it's a great (if obscure) addition to Silva's quite limited collection of releases.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

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

The Vinny Golia Quintet 2024 : Almasty Avant-Garde Jazz
VINNY GOLIA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Anaconga RnB
CITRUS SUN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Shoot For The Moon Pop/Art Song/Folk
DAVINA AND THE VAGABONDS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Timeless Post-Fusion Contemporary
DAVID BENOIT
Buy this album from MMA partners
Nothing Pop/Art Song/Folk
LOUIS COLE
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Songs My Mom Liked EPK - Anthony Branker
ANTHONY BRANKER
js· 4 hours ago
“INFLUENCES” by Jared Hall, trumpeter & composer
JARED HALL
js· 4 hours ago
Jean-Pierre (feat. Darryl Jones)
BILL EVANS (SAX)
snobb· 15 hours ago
Magic Box
CHRISTOPHE MARGUET
snobb· 15 hours ago
The Peacocks
ANTOINE DRYE
js· 21 hours 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