Album Review: Jukebox from Wayne Alpern

Album:  Jukebox
Artist:  Wayne Alpern
Label:  Henri Elkan Music
Website:  https://www.waynealpern.com

Part concerthall requiem, part classic chamber music, and part cafe jazz, Jukebox from producer-arranger Wayne Alpern is both delicate and lofty.  Savvy in making fluid movements, Alpern bonds shards of impromptu silhouettes into the tracks, finessing them to a ballroom polish.  Recomposing an assortment of favorite pop novelties and classic symphonies, Alpern's impulse to bring out supplemental nuances in a phrase and draw out new textures in a motif exhibit his affinity for music that is dear to him, all found in the passages of the world's collective memory.

The frolicking toots of  Gretchen Pusch's flute, Gerard Reuter's oboe, Benjamin Fingland's clarinet, Karl Kramer-Johansen's horn, and Adrian Morejon's bassoon stroke gleefully across "Handel Allegro."  Their flights seem as though they are powered by the open air, displaying a fancyfree whim reminiscent of the minstrels that performed at 18th century Baroque courts.   Changing gears in "Have You Met Miss Jones," an original work by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, the recording dives into the jubilant mood of cafe jazz, framed in a refined flurry of bubbly gusts.  A rhapsody blues hue coats "In A Sentimental Mood," a perennial gem of Duke Ellington's that persuades listeners to mentally veer into a reclining state of being.

"Over the Rainbow," a timeless ballad composed by Harold Arlen, is refashioned with flowy tweets and crisscrossing patterns that create tiers in the listening experience.  Alpern's massaging of the melodic motifs in Carole King's hit song "You've Got A Friend" sprout a plethora of glowing nuances in the phrasing as though from the buds of the original, he germinates new blossoms, finding new richness in the groundwork.  The cool jazz strut of the horns ambling along "Blue Moon," another Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart original, is sprinkled in impromptu silhouettes that add new textures to the landscape while the requiem-like loftiness of "Downton Abbey," the theme song to the TV serial, is blanketed in warm, rolling drifts by the woodwinds.

Wayne Alpern is engendered with the talent to rearrange, recompose, and tweak renown masterpieces and popular favorites to audiences liking.  It's a unique quality.  His treatment of the woodwinds brings out vibrant nuances and illustrious textures in the original phrases, integrating jazz trimmings and orchestral tones and leaving a pleasurable impression on the listener's mind.

Musicians:
Wayne Alpern - producer & arranger
Gretchen Pusch - flute
Gerard Reuter - oboe
Benjamin Fingland - clarinet
Karl Kramer-Johansen - horn
Adrian Morejon - bassoon