Trumpet Summit Prague: The Mendoza Arrangements: Live – Randy Brecker, Bobby Shew with Jan Hasenohrl

Catalog number: 658

Tracks:

	01 Village Dawn comp: Randy Brecker
	02 Rhumba Alias comp: Vince Mendoza
	03 Lost in the Stars comp: Kurt Weill
	04 Caravan comp: Duke Ellington
	05 Creature of Many Faces comp: Randy Brecker
	06 Three and One comp: Thaddeus Jones
	07 Caravan (encore) comp: Duke Ellington

• Features jazz legends and Grammy® winners Randy Brecker and Bobby Shew! • Randy Brecker has won six Grammys® during his long and storied career. • Entire show recorded live in Prague. • Includes seven Vince Mendoza arrangements.

Featured Artists
Randy Brecker: trumpet
Bobby Shew: trumpet
Jan Hasenöhrl: trumpet
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
St. Blaise’s Big Band
Vince Mendoza: conductor

Track Listing
• Village Dawn • Rhumba Alias • Lost in the Stars • Caravan • Creature of Many Faces • Three and One • encore

JAZZTIMES REVIEW:

“High-brass firepower is the theme ofTrumpet Summit Prague, and there’s plenty of the good stuff to go around, thanks to the on-point playing and improvising of a trio of trumpeters. Here, American players Randy Brecker and Bobby Shew, and Jan Hasenöhrl, founder of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, join forces with the CSNO and St. Blaise’s Big Band in a 2012 concert at the celebrated Smetana Hall.

But this project is less about a long-form cutting contest than it is about high-level sparring and appealing playfulness. Take Thad Jones’ “Three and One”, where the trumpeters open with round robin volleys followed by unison lines and tangy three-part harmonies. A short time later, Vince Mendoza’s arrangement has Hasenöhrl going baroque for a bracingly agile exchange with drummer Martijn Vink, followed by the big band’s return in full swing, underscored by the orchestra. Brecker steps in for a similarly agile solo before the three recombine to restate the melody.

Shew, a virtuoso player too often taken for granted, is center stage on a lush version of Kurt Weill’s “Lost in the Stars”; his flugelhorn, whether stating the melancholy melody or sailing in flights of improvisation, is a thing of beauty, expertly cushioned by the large ensemble. Brecker is featured on two of his originals: the album-opening “Village Dawn”, with its hopscotching melody and a bracing solo spiced with smears, high-speed runs and high-register forays; and the bluesy, hard-grooving “Creature of Many Faces”, which offers solo space for several other players. The program, recorded for Czech television, also offers Mendoza’s own “Rhumba Alias” and a wild and wooly version of Ellington’s “Caravan”, with even more space for three part trumpet harmonies and round-robin soloing. Three’s a crowd? Not this time.”

-Philip Booth, JazzTimes

Here is a video of one of the tracks.